Suchergebnisse

In the Master Paper, the implementation of the principle of stability of labour relations in cases of transfer of an enterprise/business or parts hereof is discussed upon. The Article 138 of the Labour Code of Republic of Lithuania foresees only a partial protection of the employees and a succession of the labour relations in case of a transfer of the enterprise/business or a part hereof, i.e. a transfer can be considered a lawful reason for terminating the labour relations. A process of transfer often does not take place not for prospectlessness of the business or dishonesty of the employer, but because of a complex character of the process itself as well as the related legal and bureaucratic problems. Not only the assignee and the assignor, but also employees of the enterprise take an interest in a transfer of the enterprise/business or parts hereof, in particular the consequences of such a transfer. In case of a transfer of an enterprise/business or parts hereof, an employee suffers mostly: the settlement with the employees often is made non-timely and sometimes is not made at all, employees are discharged groundlessly, losing their jobs and the key means of their subsistence. Frequently, employers delay or fail providing to employees information in writing on their intention to transfer the enterprise/business or a part hereof; on the day of transfer, the planned actions, the causes of the transfer, its phases as well as the economical and social consequences that can impact the employee; on the changes of the conditions, including related to the work, remuneration for work and requalification. To make the process smooth and to minimize the social and economical consequences, it is important to establish procedures and rules applicable in a case of a transfer of the enterprise/business or a part hereof that would ensure a proper implementation of the principle of the stability of labour relations and execution of the duties of the parties of the labour relations. In the Master Paper, the formulated provisions are based on the international labour standards, scientific references as well as the results of an analysis of the practice of investigation of civil cases at the Supreme Court of Lithuania and European Court of Justice; they should be useful for improving the norms of labour law related to the principle of stability of labour relations and the restrictions on termination of labour relations and reorganizing an enterprise (in a case of a transfer of the enterprise/business or a part hereof) as well as for a protection of the rights of employees. The specific concepts singled out in the Paper should be taken into consideration on developing and improving the norms of the Labour Code and other legal norms for regulating the legal status and reorganization of enterprises as well as labour relations. To ensure a succession of employment contracts or labour relations as well as a protection of the rights of employees in a case of a transfer of the enterprise/business or a part hereof, Lithuania should harmonize the structure of its labour law with the law of the European Community, in particular with the Directive No. 2001/23/EC. Operation and implementing of legal norms is predetermined by their transparency. A transfer of the enterprise/business or a part hereof is bound with application of several legal norms, so confusion and violations of laws are unavoidable. This sphere is sensible both in the social and economic respect, so the legal norms for its regulation should be coordinated and clear both for an employer and an employee as well as an owner of a business. Upon the growing dynamism of business, the presumption that a transfer of the enterprise/business should be regulated by a special norm in future cannot be ignored. The results of the investigation should help to a person engaged in applying legal norms to assess the goals and the criteria of implementing of the relevant norms, to avoid errors in ensuring a protection of the rights of employees in a case of a transfer of the enterprise/business or a part hereof. The provided recommendations can be usable for supervision and control of implementing the labour laws, execution of scientific works on a similar subject and teaching students in the programme of law. In addition, the recommendations can be usable by professionals involved in harmonizing legal norms of Republic of Lithuania with the law of European Union. Using these materials, an employer or an owner of business will be able to carry out a transfer of the enterprise/business in a more rational way and thus avoid disputes bound with labour relations.

Context: Former child soldiers are considered in need of special mental health interventions. However, there is a lack of studies investigating the mental health of child soldiers compared with civilian children in armed conflicts. Objective: To compare the mental health status of former child soldiers with that of children who have never been conscripts of armed groups. Design, Setting, and Participants: Cross-sectional cohort study conducted in March and April 2007 in Nepal comparing the mental health of 141 former child soldiers and 141 never-conscripted children matched on age, sex, education, and ethnicity. Main Outcome Measures: Depression symptoms were assessed via the Depression Self Rating Scale, anxiety symptoms via the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) via the Child PTSD Symptom Scale, general psychological difficulties via the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire, daily functioning via the Function Impairment tool, and exposure to traumatic events via the PTSD Traumatic Event Checklist of the Kiddie Schedule of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia. Results: Participants were a mean of 15.75 years old at the time of this study, and former child soldiers ranged in age from 5 to 16 years at the time of conscription. All participants experienced at least 1 type of trauma. The numbers of former child soldiers meeting symptom cutoff scores were 75 (53.2%) for depression, 65 (46.1%) for anxiety, 78 (55.3%) for PTSD, 55 (39.0%) for psychological difficulties, and 88 (62.4%) for function impairment. After adjusting for traumatic exposures and other covariates, former soldier status was significantly associated with depression (odds ratio [OR], 2.41; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.31-4.44) and PTSD among girls (OR, 6.80; 95% CI, 2.16-21.58), and PTSD among boys (OR, 3.81; 95% CI, 1.06-13.73) but was not associated with general psychological difficulties (OR, 2.08; 95% CI, 0.86-5.02), anxiety (OR, 1.63; 95% CI, 0.77-3.45), or function impairment (OR, 1.34; 95% CI, 0.84-2.14). Conclusion: In Nepal, former child soldiers display greater severity of mental health problems compared with children never conscripted by armed groups, and this difference remains for depression and PTSD (the latter especially among girls) even after controlling for trauma exposure. Armed groups throughout the world continue to exploit children to wage war.1 The dedicated efforts of humanitarian organizations,2 psychosocial workers,3 and former child soldiers4,5 have called international attention to this issue. However, in a recent report on the status of child soldiers, Betancourt et al6 revealed gaps in crucial areas of research to understand the impact of becoming a soldier on child mental health. First, child soldiers are considered in need of special psychosocial intervention. However, there is a lack of published research comparing the severity of mental health problems and functional status among child soldiers with children living through war who were not conscripted to armed groups6- 9; unpublished studies of nongovernmental organizations suggest there may not be a difference between these groups.6,10 Second, despite suggestions of increased psychological distress for girl soldiers,5,11- 13 prior to the conduct of this study no published epidemiological studies to our knowledge had explored sex differences in the psychological impact of soldiering. Third, child soldiers are assumed to have greater exposure to trauma than nonconscripted children.14 Yet, major studies of child soldiers have not shown an association between trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).15,16 Finally, Betancourt et al6 call for studies using validated and cross-culturally appropriate mental health measures, which have been lacking in this field. Researching these issues is crucial to designing the most effective mental health interventions for children in armed conflicts. In the current study, we worked toward addressing these gaps. Our first objective was to compare the mental health of former child soldiers who have returned home with that of children growing up in active conflict settings but who were not conscripted by armed groups in Nepal, using cross-culturally validated measures of psychosocial well-being. We sought to determine (1) if former child soldiers have more mental health problems than never-conscripted children; (2) if becoming a soldier has a greater impact on girls vs boys when compared with never-conscripted children; and (3) if differential exposure to trauma is associated with mental health differences between child soldiers and never-conscripted children. Our second objective was to describe predictors of mental health outcomes within child soldiers: whether trauma exposure, combat experience, military roles, and other soldier-related variables are associated with mental health outcomes and whether the associations between these factors and mental health outcomes were modified by voluntary vs involuntary recruitment, time since leaving military service, or maintained association with an armed group.

In the Master Paper, the implementation of the principle of stability of labour relations in cases of transfer of an enterprise/business or parts hereof is discussed upon. The Article 138 of the Labour Code of Republic of Lithuania foresees only a partial protection of the employees and a succession of the labour relations in case of a transfer of the enterprise/business or a part hereof, i.e. a transfer can be considered a lawful reason for terminating the labour relations. A process of transfer often does not take place not for prospectlessness of the business or dishonesty of the employer, but because of a complex character of the process itself as well as the related legal and bureaucratic problems. Not only the assignee and the assignor, but also employees of the enterprise take an interest in a transfer of the enterprise/business or parts hereof, in particular the consequences of such a transfer. In case of a transfer of an enterprise/business or parts hereof, an employee suffers mostly: the settlement with the employees often is made non-timely and sometimes is not made at all, employees are discharged groundlessly, losing their jobs and the key means of their subsistence. Frequently, employers delay or fail providing to employees information in writing on their intention to transfer the enterprise/business or a part hereof; on the day of transfer, the planned actions, the causes of the transfer, its phases as well as the economical and social consequences that can impact the employee; on the changes of the conditions, including related to the work, remuneration for work and requalification. To make the process smooth and to minimize the social and economical consequences, it is important to establish procedures and rules applicable in a case of a transfer of the enterprise/business or a part hereof that would ensure a proper implementation of the principle of the stability of labour relations and execution of the duties of the parties of the labour relations. In the Master Paper, the formulated provisions are based on the international labour standards, scientific references as well as the results of an analysis of the practice of investigation of civil cases at the Supreme Court of Lithuania and European Court of Justice; they should be useful for improving the norms of labour law related to the principle of stability of labour relations and the restrictions on termination of labour relations and reorganizing an enterprise (in a case of a transfer of the enterprise/business or a part hereof) as well as for a protection of the rights of employees. The specific concepts singled out in the Paper should be taken into consideration on developing and improving the norms of the Labour Code and other legal norms for regulating the legal status and reorganization of enterprises as well as labour relations. To ensure a succession of employment contracts or labour relations as well as a protection of the rights of employees in a case of a transfer of the enterprise/business or a part hereof, Lithuania should harmonize the structure of its labour law with the law of the European Community, in particular with the Directive No. 2001/23/EC. Operation and implementing of legal norms is predetermined by their transparency. A transfer of the enterprise/business or a part hereof is bound with application of several legal norms, so confusion and violations of laws are unavoidable. This sphere is sensible both in the social and economic respect, so the legal norms for its regulation should be coordinated and clear both for an employer and an employee as well as an owner of a business. Upon the growing dynamism of business, the presumption that a transfer of the enterprise/business should be regulated by a special norm in future cannot be ignored. The results of the investigation should help to a person engaged in applying legal norms to assess the goals and the criteria of implementing of the relevant norms, to avoid errors in ensuring a protection of the rights of employees in a case of a transfer of the enterprise/business or a part hereof. The provided recommendations can be usable for supervision and control of implementing the labour laws, execution of scientific works on a similar subject and teaching students in the programme of law. In addition, the recommendations can be usable by professionals involved in harmonizing legal norms of Republic of Lithuania with the law of European Union. Using these materials, an employer or an owner of business will be able to carry out a transfer of the enterprise/business in a more rational way and thus avoid disputes bound with labour relations.

International audience ; The suburban way of life is tending towards a rejection of tangible confrontation with otherness so that other people – should they be different – become politically invisible. This is at any rate what the critical literature surmises about the growing desire of suburbanites to live amongst their own and sometimes even behind the safe and reassuring walls of gated communities. However appealing this analysis might be, it seems nonetheless rather partial. Suburban populations are increasingly mobile and their everyday horizon is less and less reduced to the immediate perimeter of the neighbourhood. Indeed, how can one interpret the social specialization of residential areas as a sign of "enclavism" when all the statistics available indicate that mobility has become a constitutive factor of people's way of life and the neighbourhood has all but lost its existential weight? Based on exploratory work, this paper aims to deconstruct the criticism articulated around the opposition of "suburbanism" and "urbanism" by emphasising the effects of the various forms of mobility and showing that they complement the proliferation of homogeneous neighbourhoods. In order to achieve this goal, the paper analyses the culture of people living at the periphery of two large French cities (Paris and Lyon). The arguments given are based both on the existing literature and on research the author carried out in France (Charmes, 2005). As a result of the analysis conducted, it becomes apparent that the increase in mobilities and the social homogenisation of neighbourhoods can be linked in other ways than the one suggested by the critical literature. On the one hand, contemporary residential areas are not as neutral and sterile as they appear to be. Relationships between neighbours and interactions with people from the surroundings constitute at least an embryonic experience of otherness. Residential areas can therefore be conceived as "transition spaces" between the protected space of the home and the relatively unknown spaces of the large metropolis. On the other hand, the paper defends the hypothesis that mobilities tend to reinforce the need for stability and control of one's immediate space. Mobilities have lead city dwellers out of the reassuring cocoon of the neighbourhood in which almost everyone was swathed only a few decades ago. This growing uncertainty of life enhances the need to withdraw to a home "base". However, this need is temporary and only concerns isolated moments of everyday life. The general tendency remains one of dispersal of spatial practices and individualisation of experience. ; La vie périurbaine contemporaine semble tendre vers le rejet de toute confrontation concrète avec l'altérité et, au-delà, vers l'invisibilité politique de l'autre (du moins lorsqu'il est différent). C'est dans ces termes que la littérature critique interprète la spécialisation sociale des quartiers résidentiels et la volonté croissante des périurbains de fermer leurs rues par des barrières. Ce discours paraît quelque peu partial, ne serait-ce que parce que les périurbains sont de plus en plus mobiles et que leur horizon quotidien se réduit de moins en moins à l'environnement immédiat de leur domicile. Comment comprendre en effet la recherche de l'entre-soi dans l'espace résidentiel comme un « repli communautaire » lorsque tous les indicateurs statistiques disponibles indiquent que la mobilité est devenue un élément constitutif des modes de vie et que le lieu d'habitation a perdu une large part de son poids existentiel ? A partir de recherches de terrain et d'une réflexion exploratoire, cet article tente de déconstruire la critique axée sur la dissolution de l'urbanité dans le périurbain en insistant sur les effets de la mobilité et en montrant leur complémentarité avec l'homogénéisation sociale des quartiers résidentiels. Pour ce faire, le propos s'appuie, d'une part sur la littérature existante, d'autre part sur des enquêtes menées par l'auteur auprès d'habitants des périphéries de deux grandes villes françaises (Charmes, 2005). A l'issue de ces analyses, il apparaît que la recherche de l'entre-soi peut être analysée d'une autre manière que celle proposée par la littérature critique. D'une part, les espaces résidentiels ne sont pas aussi aseptisés qu'il y paraît. Les rapports entre voisins constituent au minimum un embryon d'expérience de l'altérité et il est possible de concevoir les espaces résidentiels comme les lieux d'une « transition » entre l'espace protégé du logement et les espaces publics des grandes métropoles. D'autre part, l'article suggère que les mobilités tendent à renforcer le besoin de stabilité et de contrôle de l'espace proche. Elles ont entraîné les citadins bien loin du cocon rassurant du quartier, dans lequel la quasi-totalité d'entre eux baignaient il y a encore quelques décennies. L'incertitude croissante de la vie sociale qui a accompagné ce mouvement a renforcé le besoin d'une « base » de repli. Ce besoin est toutefois temporaire et ne concerne que des moments limités de la vie quotidienne. La tendance générale reste à l'éclatement des pratiques spatiales et à l'individualisation des expériences.

International audience ; The suburban way of life is tending towards a rejection of tangible confrontation with otherness so that other people – should they be different – become politically invisible. This is at any rate what the critical literature surmises about the growing desire of suburbanites to live amongst their own and sometimes even behind the safe and reassuring walls of gated communities. However appealing this analysis might be, it seems nonetheless rather partial. Suburban populations are increasingly mobile and their everyday horizon is less and less reduced to the immediate perimeter of the neighbourhood. Indeed, how can one interpret the social specialization of residential areas as a sign of "enclavism" when all the statistics available indicate that mobility has become a constitutive factor of people's way of life and the neighbourhood has all but lost its existential weight? Based on exploratory work, this paper aims to deconstruct the criticism articulated around the opposition of "suburbanism" and "urbanism" by emphasising the effects of the various forms of mobility and showing that they complement the proliferation of homogeneous neighbourhoods. In order to achieve this goal, the paper analyses the culture of people living at the periphery of two large French cities (Paris and Lyon). The arguments given are based both on the existing literature and on research the author carried out in France (Charmes, 2005). As a result of the analysis conducted, it becomes apparent that the increase in mobilities and the social homogenisation of neighbourhoods can be linked in other ways than the one suggested by the critical literature. On the one hand, contemporary residential areas are not as neutral and sterile as they appear to be. Relationships between neighbours and interactions with people from the surroundings constitute at least an embryonic experience of otherness. Residential areas can therefore be conceived as "transition spaces" between the protected space of the home and the relatively unknown spaces of the large metropolis. On the other hand, the paper defends the hypothesis that mobilities tend to reinforce the need for stability and control of one's immediate space. Mobilities have lead city dwellers out of the reassuring cocoon of the neighbourhood in which almost everyone was swathed only a few decades ago. This growing uncertainty of life enhances the need to withdraw to a home "base". However, this need is temporary and only concerns isolated moments of everyday life. The general tendency remains one of dispersal of spatial practices and individualisation of experience. ; La vie périurbaine contemporaine semble tendre vers le rejet de toute confrontation concrète avec l'altérité et, au-delà, vers l'invisibilité politique de l'autre (du moins lorsqu'il est différent). C'est dans ces termes que la littérature critique interprète la spécialisation sociale des quartiers résidentiels et la volonté croissante des périurbains de fermer leurs rues par des barrières. Ce discours paraît quelque peu partial, ne serait-ce que parce que les périurbains sont de plus en plus mobiles et que leur horizon quotidien se réduit de moins en moins à l'environnement immédiat de leur domicile. Comment comprendre en effet la recherche de l'entre-soi dans l'espace résidentiel comme un « repli communautaire » lorsque tous les indicateurs statistiques disponibles indiquent que la mobilité est devenue un élément constitutif des modes de vie et que le lieu d'habitation a perdu une large part de son poids existentiel ? A partir de recherches de terrain et d'une réflexion exploratoire, cet article tente de déconstruire la critique axée sur la dissolution de l'urbanité dans le périurbain en insistant sur les effets de la mobilité et en montrant leur complémentarité avec l'homogénéisation sociale des quartiers résidentiels. Pour ce faire, le propos s'appuie, d'une part sur la littérature existante, d'autre part sur des enquêtes menées par l'auteur auprès d'habitants des périphéries de deux grandes villes françaises (Charmes, 2005). A l'issue de ces analyses, il apparaît que la recherche de l'entre-soi peut être analysée d'une autre manière que celle proposée par la littérature critique. D'une part, les espaces résidentiels ne sont pas aussi aseptisés qu'il y paraît. Les rapports entre voisins constituent au minimum un embryon d'expérience de l'altérité et il est possible de concevoir les espaces résidentiels comme les lieux d'une « transition » entre l'espace protégé du logement et les espaces publics des grandes métropoles. D'autre part, l'article suggère que les mobilités tendent à renforcer le besoin de stabilité et de contrôle de l'espace proche. Elles ont entraîné les citadins bien loin du cocon rassurant du quartier, dans lequel la quasi-totalité d'entre eux baignaient il y a encore quelques décennies. L'incertitude croissante de la vie sociale qui a accompagné ce mouvement a renforcé le besoin d'une « base » de repli. Ce besoin est toutefois temporaire et ne concerne que des moments limités de la vie quotidienne. La tendance générale reste à l'éclatement des pratiques spatiales et à l'individualisation des expériences.

International audience ; The suburban way of life is tending towards a rejection of tangible confrontation with otherness so that other people – should they be different – become politically invisible. This is at any rate what the critical literature surmises about the growing desire of suburbanites to live amongst their own and sometimes even behind the safe and reassuring walls of gated communities. However appealing this analysis might be, it seems nonetheless rather partial. Suburban populations are increasingly mobile and their everyday horizon is less and less reduced to the immediate perimeter of the neighbourhood. Indeed, how can one interpret the social specialization of residential areas as a sign of "enclavism" when all the statistics available indicate that mobility has become a constitutive factor of people's way of life and the neighbourhood has all but lost its existential weight? Based on exploratory work, this paper aims to deconstruct the criticism articulated around the opposition of "suburbanism" and "urbanism" by emphasising the effects of the various forms of mobility and showing that they complement the proliferation of homogeneous neighbourhoods. In order to achieve this goal, the paper analyses the culture of people living at the periphery of two large French cities (Paris and Lyon). The arguments given are based both on the existing literature and on research the author carried out in France (Charmes, 2005). As a result of the analysis conducted, it becomes apparent that the increase in mobilities and the social homogenisation of neighbourhoods can be linked in other ways than the one suggested by the critical literature. On the one hand, contemporary residential areas are not as neutral and sterile as they appear to be. Relationships between neighbours and interactions with people from the surroundings constitute at least an embryonic experience of otherness. Residential areas can therefore be conceived as "transition spaces" between the protected space of the home and the relatively unknown spaces of the large metropolis. On the other hand, the paper defends the hypothesis that mobilities tend to reinforce the need for stability and control of one's immediate space. Mobilities have lead city dwellers out of the reassuring cocoon of the neighbourhood in which almost everyone was swathed only a few decades ago. This growing uncertainty of life enhances the need to withdraw to a home "base". However, this need is temporary and only concerns isolated moments of everyday life. The general tendency remains one of dispersal of spatial practices and individualisation of experience. ; La vie périurbaine contemporaine semble tendre vers le rejet de toute confrontation concrète avec l'altérité et, au-delà, vers l'invisibilité politique de l'autre (du moins lorsqu'il est différent). C'est dans ces termes que la littérature critique interprète la spécialisation sociale des quartiers résidentiels et la volonté croissante des périurbains de fermer leurs rues par des barrières. Ce discours paraît quelque peu partial, ne serait-ce que parce que les périurbains sont de plus en plus mobiles et que leur horizon quotidien se réduit de moins en moins à l'environnement immédiat de leur domicile. Comment comprendre en effet la recherche de l'entre-soi dans l'espace résidentiel comme un « repli communautaire » lorsque tous les indicateurs statistiques disponibles indiquent que la mobilité est devenue un élément constitutif des modes de vie et que le lieu d'habitation a perdu une large part de son poids existentiel ? A partir de recherches de terrain et d'une réflexion exploratoire, cet article tente de déconstruire la critique axée sur la dissolution de l'urbanité dans le périurbain en insistant sur les effets de la mobilité et en montrant leur complémentarité avec l'homogénéisation sociale des quartiers résidentiels. Pour ce faire, le propos s'appuie, d'une part sur la littérature existante, d'autre part sur des enquêtes menées par l'auteur auprès d'habitants des périphéries de deux grandes villes françaises (Charmes, 2005). A l'issue de ces analyses, il apparaît que la recherche de l'entre-soi peut être analysée d'une autre manière que celle proposée par la littérature critique. D'une part, les espaces résidentiels ne sont pas aussi aseptisés qu'il y paraît. Les rapports entre voisins constituent au minimum un embryon d'expérience de l'altérité et il est possible de concevoir les espaces résidentiels comme les lieux d'une « transition » entre l'espace protégé du logement et les espaces publics des grandes métropoles. D'autre part, l'article suggère que les mobilités tendent à renforcer le besoin de stabilité et de contrôle de l'espace proche. Elles ont entraîné les citadins bien loin du cocon rassurant du quartier, dans lequel la quasi-totalité d'entre eux baignaient il y a encore quelques décennies. L'incertitude croissante de la vie sociale qui a accompagné ce mouvement a renforcé le besoin d'une « base » de repli. Ce besoin est toutefois temporaire et ne concerne que des moments limités de la vie quotidienne. La tendance générale reste à l'éclatement des pratiques spatiales et à l'individualisation des expériences.

At a time of knowledge becoming increasingly relevant to social and economic development, governments worldwide aim at the creation of country-specific types of k-society, i.e. 'information societies', 'knowledge societies' or 'knowledge-based economies'. This book redraws the processes of constructing k-societies in Germany and Singapore and offers an empirically based definition of k-society which has been missing until now. Based on the conducted research, I argue that k-societies are created by collective actors in society and are not - as often assumed - merely the result or logical consequence of the technological developments in the information and communication sector, the growth of the service industry and the high profit margin of knowledge intensive goods. I empirically focus on the activities of the state as collective actor who massively pursues the creation of k-societies in Germany and Singapore. The remaining subsystems engaged in the construction process - economy, scientific community, civil society and the media – are merely assessed with regard to their influence on state activities. The process of constructing k-societies can be divided into (a) the development of the theoretical, categorically defined concepts of k-society; (b) the construction of a vision of self-emerging k-societies; and (c) the creation of country-specific k-societies as stages of social and economic development. At the beginning of the construction process stands the development of the idea of k-society by the international scientific community. Multiple, categorically-defined concepts of k-society as well as a manifold terminology were developed. The interchangeable use of terms to label the many k-society definitions nevertheless resulted in a rather blurry picture of k-society. Accelerated by the common assumption of the rise of k-societies, this created a fertile ground for the construction of a vision of a self-emerging k-society. This thesis outlines the role of the German and Singaporean governments in creating and utilising this vision. Most political programs which aim at the creation of a k-society as a stage of development justify their existence by pointing to the apparent rise of a k-society that should be monitored. Yet in actual terms, it is these programs that call the envisioned k-society into existence. Consequently, these government programs inherently (re-)define country-specific k-societies. By assessing these procedural definitions of k-society, this thesis offers clarity to what k-societies actually are: they are what they are defined as by the actors creating them. Theoretically this is based on Berger and Luckmann's theory of the social construction of reality (1984), defining knowledge, as what is regarded as knowledge by society. Germany and Singapore, the countries of investigation, share the commonality of being modern and aiming at developing into k-societies. At the same time, the structural realities of both countries differ markedly which is precondition to the analysis. The wide differences make it possible to show that (a) k-societies are not only created as political idea and stage of development but furthermore (b) the definitions of k-society and the paths taken to create them, highly depend on the structural realities and dominant definitions of knowledge in each country. Consequently, there is not one k-society, but multiple, country-specific k-societies. Nevertheless, the data also illustrate that k-societies do not only vary in different countries but that k-society as construct was in both countries in the beginning clearly an economic and technological programme. But over time, it became more and acts in Germany and even more in Singapore today as economic and technological programme, as well as a new focal point of collective identity offered by the state in order to reduce felt insecurities. As such, the suggested concept of multiple k-societies has to be interpreted within Eisenstadt's concept of multiple modernities, which leads me to answer the initial question, what k-society actually is by stating: k-society is to the second modernity, the time of multiple modernities what 'industrial society' was for the first, western modernity. K-society is a theoretical concept created by academics and scientists. K-society is a vision that legitimises and accelerates action towards its own realisation. K-society is a stage of development in which knowledge forms the center for social, cultural, economic and technologic development. K-society is a new focal point of identity in the second modernity. And finally, k-society is a social construction of reality that will shape our future to come. Empirically, this thesis is based on (a) qualitative expert interviews conducted in Germany and Singapore; (b) a quantitative analysis of the participation of subsystems in commissions and boards of directors; (c) a quantitative analysis of the k-society terminology; as well as (d) a qualitative analysis of government programs, action plans and final reports of government commissions contributing to the construction of k-societies.

This thesis examines the spread and promotion of English on a global level, from a historical perspective in particular 'Third World' contexts. The globalization of English as an exclusive language of power is considered to be a trap, when accompanied by an ideology aiming to universalize monolingual and monocultural norms and standards. World-wide English diffusion is related - not to any mystical effects of some psycho-social mechanisms or transmuting alchemy - but to a global rise of military, political, economic, communicational and cultural Euro-American hegemony. The fact that the English language has become perhaps the primary medium of social control and power has not been given a prominent place in the analyses of established social scientists or political planners. On the contrary, the positively idealized dominance of English as a universal medium has become part of a collection of myths seeking to deny the global reality of multilingualism. Not allowing for the existence of any power besides itself, the perpetuation of this hegemony of English within a multilingual scenario has become a contradiction in terms. Centuries of colonialism, followed by neo-colonialism, are seen to have resulted in a world-wide consensus favouring centralization and homogenization of state and world economies, administrations, language, education and mass media systems, as prerequisites to local and global unity. The particular case of India as encountered by a colonizing Britain is used to illustrate the historical clash between differing language and educational traditions and cultures. It was on the strength of their own predominantly positive attitudes towards diversity - encoded in their promotion of complex social and religious philosophies, as well as varied economic and educational practices of pluralism and hierarchy-without-imposition, unity in diversity, etc. - that the people and their leaders finally achieved Indian independence from British colonialism. Contemporary Indian society, however, is still grappling with the legacy of a Eurocentric civilizational model - encoded in the neo-colonial system of English education - and in conflict with its own positively idealized and actively promoted traditions of pluralism. On national and international levels, the destabilization and destruction of diversity continues to threaten more than the linguistic and cultural uniqueness of numerous communities and individuals. For those majorities and minorities who refuse to give up their 'differences', political, economic and physical survival is at stake. A paradoxical reality, seldom acknowledged, is that while for the politically and economically already powerful language groups, the enormous resources spent on formal (language) education have become a means to maintain their material and political capital, whereas for the majority of modern societies' marginalized members, powerful linguistic barriers to full economic or political participation remain firmly in place. The justifications for perpetuating exclusionary policies and sustaining structural inequality have come from monocultural ideological assumptions in education and language policies as one of the key mechanisms for state control of labour. This thesis concludes that the trap of an ideologically exclusive status for English can be avoided by theoretically positivizing and institutionally promoting existing multilingual and multicultural peoples' realities as an integral part of their human rights, in order to resist global Englishization. ; Diese Dissertation ist eine kritische Untersuchung der globalen Ausbreitung der englischen Sprache sowie eine Analyse ihrer dominanten Position in bestimmten Kontexten der 'Dritten Welt'1. Die Globalisierung der englischen Sprache als exklusives hegemoniales Medium wird als Falle betrachtet, wenn sie mit einer eurozentristischen Ideologie (Amin 1989) verbunden ist, die aus einem politischen und kulturellen System besteht, das beabsichtigt, seine eigenen monolingualen und monokulturellen Normen zu universalisieren. Zum gegenwärtigen Zeitpunkt ist die positiv idealisierte universelle Verbreitung und Vorreiterstellung der englischen Sprache Teil einer Sammlung von Mythen geworden, die die globale Existenz der Mehrsprachigkeit verleugnen. Eine weitere Destabilisierung pluralistischer Sprachen und (politischer und kultureller) Wissensstrukturen könnte in der völligen Zerstörung der Vielfalt enden. Um diesen mächtigen Tendenzen entgegenzuwirken und um der universellen Sprache Englisch als Falle zu entgehen, ist mehr erforderlich als eine bloße Anerkennung der Mehrsprachigkeit. Nur eine aktive Ermächtigung und Förderung sowie der alltägliche Gebrauch einer Vielfalt von globalen und lokalen (machtlosen) Sprachen, Kulturen, Traditionen und Praktiken auf allen Ebenen der Administration, Bildung und im akademischen Diskurs kann ihr Überleben sichern. Der spezifische Fall Indiens in seiner Begegnung mit einem kolonialen England wird benutzt, um den historischen Konflikt zweier Zivilisationen aufzuzeichnen, die in radikal unterschiedlichen Sprachtraditionen im Bereich der Bildung, der Administration, der Justiz und der mündlich und schriftlich überlieferten Literatur verwurzelt sind. Die überwiegend positiven Einstellungen der Menschen und ihrer Herrscher des indischen Subkontinents gegenüber dem Pluralismus beweisen, daß eine kulturell und philosophisch vereinte Gesellschaft, die einen linguistischen und sozialen Pluralismus praktiziert, möglich ist. Die Beispiele politischer und kultureller Zentralisierungstendenzen im frühmodernen Europa, die in gesellschaftlichen Umstrukturierungen auf nationaler und homogenisierender Basis mündeten, dienen als Beispiele des Triumphs hauptsächlich negativer Einstellungen gegenüber der Heterogenität. Diese beiden gegensätzlichen Einstellungen der Kolonisatoren und der Kolonisierten haben die Rolle und den Status des Englischen als koloniale und postkoloniale Sprache tief beeinflußt, und das nicht nur auf dem indischen Subkontinent. Im Kontext eines modernen, unabhängigen Landes, wie Indien es ist, behält das Englische weiterhin seinen Stellenwert auf den höheren Ebenen der Bildung, des akademischen Diskurses und der Verwaltungsstrukturen. Die Gleichberechtigung der Sprachen im Bildungswesen, in der Administration und in der Justiz sowie in anderen wichtigen Bereichen des öffentlichen Lebens setzt die Beteiligung aller Mitglieder (Individuen und Gemeinschaften) einer (pluralistischen) Gesellschaft voraus. Eine solche Gleichberechtigung bedarf ebenfalls einer Debatte über Vor- und Nachteile, Theorien und Praktiken präkolonialer, kolonialer und moderner (offener und verdeckter) Sprachplanung. Diese Dissertation kommt zu dem Ergebnis, daß der exklusive Status des Englischen als Falle durch ein theoretisch-positives Entgegensetzen der mehrsprachigen und multikulturellen Realitäten umgangen werden kann. Diverse Gemeinschaften zusammen mit ihren diversen Sprachen auf unterschiedlichen politischen, wirtschaftlichen und kulturellen Ebenen zu fördern und als einen integralen Teil der Menschenrechte anzusehen, mag die einzige Möglichkeit sein, der globalen Anglisierung zu widerstehen.

N. F. S. Grundtvig: Educationalist extraordinary. Homage of an Indian adult educator[N. F. S. Grundtvig: En usadvanlig folkeoplyser. En anerkendende karakteristik fra en indisk voksenpadagog]Af Asoke BhattacharyaAsoke Bhattacharya er professor i voksenoplysning ved Jadavpur University i Calcutta i Indien.Ved dette universitet leder han samtidig et Center for Grundtvig-Studier. Fra 2004-2005 har prof. Bhattacharya opholdt sig i Danmark for at samle materiale til fortsatte studier over Grundtvigs tanker om livsoplysning med henblik på at kunne gøre disse tanker gældende i en samfundssammenhæng som f.eks. den indiske. Under sit seneste ophold i Danmark har Asoke Bhattacharya været gæst på en række danske folkehøjskoler og fortalt om sit arbejde i Indien. Desuden har han været gæsteforsker ved Vartov-Akademiet og Center for Grundtvigsttudier for at komme videre med sit eget faglige projekt, der drejer sig om at tolke Grundtvigs skoletanker og gøre dem gældende i dag, således at deres relevans for de mange millioner underprivilegerede samfundsborgere i landene på jordens sydlige halvkugle bliver tydelig.Under sit seneste ophold i Danmark har professor Bhattacharya endnu engang undret sig over, hvor begrænset opmærksomhed der tilsyneladende er omkring Grundtvig i sammenligning med den verdensomfattende optagethed af H. C. Andersen og Søren Kierkegaard.Ikke at der overhovedet skulle være anledning til at gøre indsigelse mod den globale begejstring for disse to, men professor Bhattacharya ønsker at pege på, at Grundtvigs tænkning rummer impulser til en nyorientering inden for voksenoplysning og opdragelse til demokratisk kultur, en relevans som forekommer Bhattacharya umiddelbart indlysende set ud fra hans hjemland Indien, men som - det føler han sig overbevist om - tillige gælder alle andre lande på den sydlige halvkugle.Forklaringen på at denne internationale tilegnelse endnu ikke har fundet sted, mener Bhattacharya at kunne finde, i alle tilfælde delvist, i den kendsgerning, at vi i Danmark har været tilbøjelige til at slå kreds om hans tanker i en form for national protektionisme, som om disse tanker var forbeholdt Danmark og kun kunne udfoldes efter deres mening hos os. Over for en sådan tendens til national chauvinisme gør Asoke Bhattacharya med stor styrke gældende, at Grundtvigs tanker har universel adresse.Efter denne programerklæring giver Bhattacharya en skitse over Indiens årtusindgamle kultur, idet han særligt opholder sig ved det paradoks, at denne ærværdige tradition synes at have mistet noget af sit potentiale til at fremkalde dannelse og oplysning for de brede folkemasser. Årsagen mener han at kunne finde i det forhold, at indiske politikere i hovedsagen har været optaget af at fremme industrialiseringen i byerne, hvorimod de har forsømt reformer for befolkningen i landområdeme. Dertil kommer, at den uddannelsespolitiske ambition har været rettet mod elitens uddannelse på de øverste uddannelsestrin, mens man har ladet hånt om behovet for folkeoplysning.Efter at have ridset Gmndtvigs forestillinger om livsoplysning og folkelig dannelse op i deres historiske, samfundsmæssige kontekst fremlægger Bhattacharya en skitse af tre senere pionerer inden for folkeoplysning, som forekommer indlysende nærliggende og relevante at bringe ind i samtalen om, hvordan vi bedst bidrager til en betydningsoverførsel af Grundtvigs tanker til vores egen tid og til andre himmelstrøg end vore egne. Den første af disse tre forgrundskikkelser er den indiske digter, filosof og billedkunstner Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). I senkolonialismens Indien erkendte Tagore et eklatant behov for at animere til en folkelig vækkelse blandt den underprivilegerede landbefolkning. Da han i 1913 modtog Nobelprisen i litteratur, indbetalte han pengene som bidrag til opbygning af internatskoler på landet i Vest-Bengalen. De vigtigste fag på skolerne var landbrug, kunsthåndværk, syning af bomuldsstoffer samt sundhedsreformer for landbefolkningen.Den anden reformskikkelse inden for voksenoplysningen er Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948). Gandhi er antagelig bedre kendt, blandt andet fordi han fik afgørende betydning i processen, der førte frem til Indiens selvstændighed. På flere måder minder de to indiske folkeoplysere dog om hinanden, f.eks. i henseende til deres betoning af modersmålets betydning for en ægte folkekultur, af den mundtlige fortælling med vægt på poetisk billedsprog samt deres understregning af en fordringsløs livsførelse samt nærende kost til gavn for folkesundheden.Den tredje voksenpædagog, der på tilsvarende måde har ydet et betydningsfuldt bidrag til udformningen af en samfundstænkning, der retter sig mod de brede masser, er den brasilianske filosof og reformpædagog Paolo Freire (1921-1997). Freires program for myndiggørelse af den underprivilegerede befolkning i hans eget hjemland, det nordlige Brasilien, tog frem for alt sigte på at give de undertrykte folkemasser et sprog, der satte dem i stand til at bryde ud af den tavse lidelse og give dem en impuls til frigørelse fra deres uværdige livsvilkår.Asoke Bhattacharya ser afgørende lighedstræk mellem Grundtvigs sans for sand folkelighed og hovedintentionerne hos de tre nævnte poetiske reformpædagoger. Grundtvigs nutidige betydning vil træde frem med stor styrke, hvis det lykkes at tolke og videreføre hans synspunkter i samspil med hans moderne efterfølgere.

In this essay, we challenge the present dominant emphasis in the Dutch Innovation Debate on the creation of technological innovations, the focus on a few core technologies, and the allocation of more financial resources. We argue that managerial capabilities and organizing principles for innovation should have a higher priority on the Dutch Innovation Agenda. Managerial capabilities for innovation deal with cognitive elements such as the capacity to absorb knowledge, create entrepreneurial mindsets, and facilitate managerial experimentation and higher-order learning abilities. These capacities can only be developed by distinctive managerial roles that enhance hierarchy, teaming and shared norms. Utilizing these unique managerial capabilities requires novel organizing principles, such as managing internal rates of change, nurturing self-organization and balancing high levels of exploration and exploitation. These managerial capabilities and organizing principles of innovation create new sources of productivity growth and competitive advantage. The dramatic fall back of the Netherlands in the league of innovative and high productivity countries of the World Economic Forum-Report can be mainly attributed to the present lack in the Netherlands of these key managerial and organizational enablers of innovation and productivity growth. We provide various levers for building unique managerial capabilities and novel organizing principles of innovation. Moreover, we describe the necessary roles that different actors have to play in this innovation arena. In particular, we focus on the often neglected but important role of strategic regulations that speed up innovation and productivity growth. They are the least expensive way to boost innovation in organizations in both the Dutch private and public sector. Finally, we discuss the implications for the Dutch Innovation Agenda. It should start with setting a challenging ambition, namely the return of The Netherlands within the WEF- league of the top-ten most innovative and productive countries of the world. Considering the under-utilization of available knowledge stemming from technological innovations, managerial and organizational determinants of innovation should receive first priority. These determinants have a high strategic relevance and should receive more public recognition. We suggest to organize an annual innovation ranking of the most outstanding Dutch firms, to develop an innovation audit that measures firms' non-technological innovation capacity, and to create an overall innovation policy for fast diffusion of new managerial capabilities and adequate organizing principles throughout the Dutch private and public sector. In conclusion, we add five new items to the Dutch Innovation Agenda: 1. Prioritize administrative innovations Investments in management and organization determinants of absorption of knowledge and its successful application (administrative innovation) should have a higher priority than investments in technological innovations. 2. Build new managerial capabilities and develop novel organizing principles For these administrative innovations to succeed, firms have to build managerial capabilities (broad knowledge-base, absorptive capacity, managerial experimentation, higher-order learning) and various management roles (hierarchy, teaming, shared norms) to increase the assimilation of external knowledge and the utilization for innovation. Moreover, they have to develop novel organizing principles that increase internal rates of change, nurture self-organization and synchronize high levels of exploration and exploitation. 3. Set levers of innovation by creating selection environments that favor innovation and by redefining the roles of key actors Management has to create a proper organizational context to foster entrepreneurship and innovation (internal selection environment). Governmental agencies have to focus on innovation and productivity enabling strategic regulations (external selection environment). Moreover, research institutes, business schools, and consulting firms should not only focus on technological knowledge, but also on managerial and organizational knowledge for innovation. In the end, private small and large firms and public institutions have to recognize that they all must contribute to the national goal of increasing innovation and productivity growth. 4. Create a new challenging national ambition: return of the Netherlands within the top-10 The Netherlands has to return to the top-ten most innovative and productive countries in the world as reflected in international rankings such as the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Index. 5. Proliferate an awareness and passion for innovation: Create public awareness and recognition of the societal relevance of outstanding managerial capabilities and organizing principles to innovation and productivity growth: o Initiate a Dutch innovation ranking in terms of management and organization; o Develop proper assessment tools for innovations in management and organization; o Enhance reporting on the progress on managerial and organizational innovation as part of modern corporate governance and as part of outstanding annual reports. These issues may contribute to rethinking the fundamental sources of innovation, productivity growth and sustainable competitive advantage of the Dutch economy.

Conclusion: During the past three decades there has been a significant transformation of work arrangements in countries like Australia, characterized by a relative decline in permanent/secure full-time employees and a commensurate growth in short-term contract, casual and other contingent work arrangements. This shift poses a significant challenge for OHS legislation that was designed on a presumption of employment relationships and a level of unionization that are now no longer the norm. In particular, these changes undermine the mechanisms for worker involvement that were a critical component of post-Robens legislative reform in Australia and many other countries and which have been shown to be important in achieving tangible improvement in health and safety outcomes. This paper has highlighted the extent of these deficiencies, including the virtual exclusion of subcontractors, the self-employed and leased workers, from participatory mechanisms (notably workplace health and safety committees and being represented by HSRs). There is also evidence that the involvement of temporary employees and home-based workers (who are employees) in workplace committees is problematic even though they are not formally excluded by legislation. Further, it was noted that declines in union membership had weakened the logistical infrastructure for effective worker involvement, especially in industries and workplaces were insecure or contingent work arrangements are pervasive. The paper then explored a number of ways of remedying these deficiencies, including revising general duty and participation provisions and associated codes and regulations; and developing new forms of representation. It has argued that new and more embracing responsibilities on consultation should be aimed at employers in multi-employer worksites and it suggests that the WorkCover NSW OHS Consultation Code may be a good example of one step in this direction. It points out that while the original measures on worker representation and consultation established a useful floor of rights, they were based on assumptions about the structure and organization of work as well as about the power of trade unions which no longer apply in the changed world of work we describe in the early part of the paper. As these changes appear to have negative consequences for both the health and safety and the representation of the increasing number of workers that experience them, we argue that measures on representation and consultation are in need of revision. We suggest for example that existing Australian measures on 'deeming' and qualifications in relation to 'designated work groups' may be both limiting and inadequate in addressing the realities of supporting representation on health and safety in a changed world of work. Moreover, we note that issues of representation on health and safety for workers in small enterprises strongly overlap with those in the other increasingly fragmented and precarious employment situations that we have described. Importantly, we have derived several further observations from this. First that there is some evidence that representing workers' interests in small enterprises through the use of mobile representatives from outside the enterprises such as is the case in a number of European countries does lead to improved health and safety arrangements in the enterprises concerned. Second that legislative support for such representation is one of the factors that enhances both its coverage and effectiveness of workers as can be demonstrated in countries such as Sweden and Italy where such provisions exist and can be inferred from the limited and partial nature of both coverage and effectiveness of voluntary measures in countries in which they are the norm. Conversely, measures that exempt small enterprises from legislative provisions on health and safety and/or worker representation do nothing to support the improved health and safety outcomes in these firms. Furthermore there is a strong argument to suggest that such measures are in fact discriminatory and promote inequality at work. Suggestions about the need for new and innovative regulatory approaches to address the unfavourable situations that are a product of the new structure and organization of work does not imply that existing measures have been entirely successful in dealing with the situations for which they were intended. We have noted that on some issues such as for example, training, issuing notices, risk assessment and consultation in advance of change there is still some way to go before such measures can be claimed to be fully operational — even in traditional workplaces. We have suggested that discussion of regulatory reform needs to take this observation into account alongside those we have made concerning the new situations of work. This account has been specifically focused on regulatory reforms that could address current weaknesses in the Australian situation. However, it should be clear that there are similar challenges in most advanced market economies. This means there is much more to be learned from international comparative analysis of both regulatory and non-regulatory strategies in this field.

This dissertation comprises a collection of self-contained game theoretical essays on different and detailed facets of power, freedom, and success. Chapter 1 is a brief introduction to the basic meaning of these concepts and their importance in welfare economics. The chapter includes a brief tour of the essays and how they conceptually and methodologically tie together. Chapter 2, 'Preferences and the Measurement of Power', which was written in collaboration with Manfred J. Holler and forthcoming in Journal of Theoretical Politics, examines a recent debate in the literature on power indices in which classical measures such as the Banzhaf, Shapley-Shubik, and Public Good indices have been criticized on the grounds that they do not take into account player preferences. It has been argued that an index that is blind to preferences misses a vital component of power, namely strategic interaction. In this vein there has been an attempt to develop so-called strategic power indices on the basis of non-cooperative game theory. This essay argues that the criticism is unfounded and that a preference-based power index is incompatible with the definition of power as a generic ability: 'the ability to effect outcomes'. It is claimed that power resides in, and only in, a game form and not in a game itself. Chapter 3, 'The Measurement of Freedom', which has been submitted to the American Political Science Review (APSR), is about the measurement specific freedoms – the freedom of an agent to undertake some particular action. In a recent paper in the APSR, Dowding and van Hees discuss the need for, and general form of, a 'freedom function' that assigns a value between 0 and 1 to a right or freedom and that describes the expectation that a person may have about being in a position to exercise ('being free to perform') that freedom or legal right. An examination of the literature shows that such a measure has never been properly defined. Based on the framework of a game form, this essay develops a very simple and natural measure of specific freedom that turns out to be the conditional variant of 'success', a measure that we know from the literature on voting power. Some properties and characteristics of the measure are discussed. Chapter 4, 'The Success of a Chairman', re-examines the so-called 'chairman's paradox' that was first noticed by Farquharson in his path breaking tract on sophisticated voting, Theory of Voting (1969). The Chairman's paradox is concerned with the case of a three member committee in which a particular player who has a regular and a tie-breaking vote – the 'chairman' – not only will do worse in specific instances under the plurality procedure for three alternatives than if he did not have such a vote, but will also do worse overall. That is, the chairman's a priori probability of success ('getting what one wants') for all possible games with linear (strict) preference orders is lower than that of the two regular members. It is demonstrated that this result, which comes about if voters act strategically rather than sincerely, is not as robust as it has been thought to be. By merely replacing the standard assumption of linear preference orders that do not allow for players to be indifferent with weak preference orders, which allow for indifference, we can escape from the paradox for the canonical case of three players and three alternatives. With weak preference orders, the a priori success of the chairman is now greater than that of the other two players. A new paradox of sophisticated voting is also detected and discussed. Chapter 5, 'Voting Rules in Insolvency Law: A Simple-Game Theoretic Approach', which was written in collaboration with Frank Steffen and published in the International Review of Law and Economics concerns an analysis of the voting rules in modern insolvency law. A chief characteristic of this law in Canada, Germany, the UK, and the US is the provision for 'workouts' or 'schemes of arrangement' by which insolvent companies can attempt to rehabilitate the business. If reorganization is chosen, the debtor has to devise a plan of action which will be voted upon by claimants. The voting rules, however, differ in each jurisdiction to a greater or lesser extent and as yet have not been analysed in any rigorous manner. This paper provides an approach based upon the theory of simple games to analyse the rules in terms of the ease which each of these regimes can pass (or hinder) plans and how these rules distribute value among claimants. Particular attention is given to the role of classification and the effect of coalition formation.

This report is the first of a two-part report addressing different aspects of the priority setting process. The priority setting process includes standpoints, choices, information acquisition, information interpretation, decisions, and activities to win support for the various steps in this type of process. Setting priorities for collective resources requires conscious choices between different options, it takes place at different levels in a society, and it involves different types of actors (politicians, administrators, health care personnel, patients, and the public). This report presents several broad strategies from the body of international literature on priority setting in health care. The muddling through elegantly strategy dissociates itself from general rules or formulas for allocating resources in health care since these tend to make the process static. Rather, health care personnel should have substantial freedom to make decisions about the distribution of resources. The public has limited insight into the priority setting process, but is given the opportunity to judge the results. In the strategy for rational decision making, the acquisition of information is a key activity – usually the most important. Only the best available information, preferably acquired through scientific methods, should serve as a foundation for making decisions. Decision makers at different levels are expected to act rationally, i.e. guided by the available information they seek the optimum solution without allowing themselves to be influenced by extraneous factors. The strategy for pluralistic bargaining implies that priority setting involves the ability to make socially acceptable decisions, and that this bargaining process must be repeated again and again. According to this strategy, we reach the best possible solution to the prioritisation problem through transparency, participation of many different parties in the process, the ability to consider and analyse opposing arguments, and finally viewing the decision as being "reasonable". The community approach strategy assumes that strain on society will increase to gigantic proportions if we attempt to finance all potential medical interventions. There is a risk that along the way we will stray from the essential values of what constitutes a "humane society" and a "good life". A broad discussion should be initiated in the community to deal with the "impossible" value systems that lead in the wrong direction. The public should participate in this discussion, whereupon politicians and administrators need to develop "categorical standards" that are applied by health care personnel. The model of health care requirements combines elements of the rational and the pluralistic strategies. It includes the clarification of goals and principles, the utilisation of good information, and the understanding that prioritisation must be a continuous process at different levels that also considers the viewpoints of lay persons (consultation of patients and the public). Explicit and implicit decision making refers to the situation where elected officials are forced to explicitly indicate what should be financed while implementation of decisions at other levels involves an implicit process of prioritisation (not so much a conscious choice as a compelling condition). The transparency at one level serves as "protection" for the concealed process that must be carried out at other levels. If we focus solely on the transparency issue, the strategies themselves do not appear to differ substantially, except on a few points. However, such a conclusion would be entirely erroneous – substantial differences begin to appear as we carefully scrutinise the various strategies. This review suggests that we are not dealing with a single priority setting process, but rather with two processes – one concerning internal legitimacy and another concerning external legitimacy. Only when we make this sharp distinction does the content of the different strategies become truly apparent. The process of internal legitimacy is characterised by the ability to identify a knowledge base (scientific) and arguments for establishing priorities based on that knowledge. This is the only way that knowledge-based organisations like health services can begin to gain trust for the priorities. The model of health care requirements describes a reasonable model for establishing internal legitimacy in a priority setting process. Pluralistic bargaining, the community approach, and muddling through elegantly are priority setting processes concerned with improving the conditions for external legitimacy. However, they present two fundamentally different perspectives: to prospectively (ex ante) build confidence through guiding principles and a transparent and pluralistic decision making process, or to retrospectively (ex post) provide an opportunity to review and revise the results. Of the strategies reviewed, two emerge as being more attractive in regard to developing a priority setting process for health services in Sweden. These are the model of health care requirements to assure internal legitimacy and pluralistic bargaining to enhance the conditions for external legitimacy. ; This report is a translation from the Swedish report Prioriteringsprocessen Del I: Övergripande strategier with the same serial number 2003:3.

VTT Tiedotteita - Meddelanden - Research Notes 2038 ; The planning project for the Personal Navigation (NAVI) programme proposes a three-year national programme. About one hundred experts from enterprises, the administration, research institutes and universities took part in the planning project under the leadership of VTT Information Technology. The development of technologies and markets, the usability of devices and services, and legal and ethical issues were examined in the planning project to serve as the background and starting point for the programme. This report summarises the information gathered in the planning project and seeks to present an intelligible analysis of the topic. Chapter one examines the creation of the mobile multimedia market, the structure of personal navigation's value chain, different scenarios and concepts concerning the nature of the market and competition, and co-operation issues. Location-based services are expected to become a significant part of the mobile multimedia market globally. There will be intense competition between mobile portals, and user groups' own services will play a key role in shaping the usage culture. Chapter two deals with the key functions and service contents of personal navigation. Personal navigation involves positioning the user and using information on positioned sites, phenomena and services to help the user choose the route and mode of transport necessary to reach a particular destination in both indoor and outdoor environments. Navigation services should answer the user's questions about the location of the user him/herself, some other person or selected site, and should provide guidance by different routes and modes of transport. It is generally assumed that the personal communicator, i.e. the terminal device, will be a mobile phone or some other small portable device capable of accessing data network services. Chapter three describes positioning methods based primarily on terrestrial radio or satellite positioning systems. Requirements set for the accuracy of positioning will become greater as the positioning technology is developed. The accuracy of consumer devices has improved from a few hundred metres to a few tens of metres over the past twenty years, and the aim is to achieve an accuracy of a few metres in the near future. The accuracy requirement of consumer devices in particular will be limited by factors such as the costs of devices and infrastructure as well as the size and power consumption of the positioning device. Current methods are not particularly suitable for indoor positioning. Chapter four outlines the service architecture that would not only be clear and simple from the perspective of device and service compatibility, but also capable of offering a sufficiently diverse range of services. The information system architecture in personal navigation will be a distributed one. The format of the information to be communicated will be a key criterion for the compatibility of applications. Application interfaces should be based on international standards in widespread use, and should be open so that they support free competition in service supply. Internet and WAP standards represent a key starting point. The most important standardisation co-operation bodies as far as personal navigation is concerned are presented at the end of the chapter. Chapter five examines user needs and motives and the shaping of usage culture. Identification of user groups and their needs is the starting point for user-centred product development when defining product concepts and functions. Technology offers the tools necessary for the development of new devices and services, but the essential thing is how the different usage cultures will adopt new products and how demand and supply will meet one another. User-centred product development will ensure that the products meet the needs and likings of users. Finally, the methods of user-centred product development are described. Chapter six deals with many legal questions concerning the positioning of people and the exploitation of location data. Topics such as data protection, consumer protection, copyrights to service contents and other rights are examined. Key questions are: When can location data be used? What rights apply to service contents and to whom do these rights belong? What restrictions should be placed on the monitoring of people's movements and what kind of new legislation would the provision of location services require? The final chapter considers ethical questions posed by the development of personal navigation and the technology that it requires. Innovations and their increasingly widespread use are raising questions and fears among users. For example, on whose terms is the technology being developed and what will its consequences be? An ethical audit and the criteria developed for it will seek to reveal the perspectives of different stakeholder groups and to engage them in the innovation process. Human conceptions and world views are influencing background factors, and a set of values should be defined as a starting point for interaction. On-going projects concerning the topic of personal navigation as well as the themes of the EU's Fifth Framework Programme's IST programme are presented in the report's appendices.

In the past two decades major focus has been placed on child's rights, survival and development. This has occurred both on an international level and, since the inception of the Government of National Unity (GNU) in South Africa, nationally, provincially and locally through various development programmes. Development in a child concerns the sequential acquisition of cognitive, motor and social skills. Adverse biological and environmental factors will have a major negative impact on a child's development. It is therefore crucial that children affected by these adverse factors are identified as early as possible, to prevent disability or facilitate intervention to ensure that they reach their maximum developmental potential. The global prevalence for developmental disability (DD) is 7-10% of the population. The national prevalence for South African children is not known but a recent Disability Survey by the Department of Health in 1998 quotes 5. 7% - 6.1 % for the overall population. Developmental disability is therefore an important priority to be addressed, especially at the primary health care level. This has been highlighted in the White Paper on Integrated National Disability Strategy of the GNU in 1997. The efficacy of intervention for developmental disabilities is debated. Scientifically this efficacy has not been proven unequivocally but there is consensus from parents, professionals and advocacy groups that early intervention is beneficial. Taken that early identification is essential, screening is the ideal method in the South African context for detection of developmental disability. There are numerous screening tools used for this purpose which need to fulfil certain criteria to ensure effectiveness. Important issues around existing developmental screening tools have been: time taken to administer the test; reliability, validity and sensitivity; measurement methods; ease of administering; and applicable age range. Questions which record parents' or caregivers' observations of their child's developmental skills have been used as effective screening tools for developmental disability. A large study which assessed prevalence of disability using a "Ten Question" format has been used extensively in Bangladesh and found to be effective. A 10-question tool was developed to screen for developmental disabilities in 9-month-old infants, the age of attendance at clinics for measles immunisation. The questions focused on the four areas traditionally tested in developmental assessments, namely speech and hearing, gross and fine motor, vision and personal/social functions. Other factors such as weight, head circumference, dysmorphic features and chronic illness were documented concurrently. The 9-month screening tool in this study was tested at Site B Clinic (Khayelitsha) and Eastridge Clinic (Mitchells Plain) and extended to high risk clinics such as the Neonatal Elevated Risk, Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Clinics of Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital. This was a prospective observational study. 235 9-month-old infants were seen between the period September 1996 to January 1997. The interviews were conducted in Xhosa (53%), Afrikaans (28%) and English (19%). The questionnaire was administered to the parent or caregiver of each infant. This was followed by an examination and neurodevelopmental assessment of the infant. On assessment 192 infants (82%) had no disability, 39 (16%) had developmental disability and 4 (2%) were at risk for motor disability. A further analysis of the 39 infants with developmental disability revealed that 25 (64%) were language impaired only, 2 (5%) were motor disabled and 12 (31%) were globally disabled (i.e. in both language and motor areas). Males and females were equally affected. The results showed that the 9-month screening questionnaire is a valid tool for the screening for developmental disability. The overall sensitivity of the questionnaire was 97.7% (95% Confidence interval [CI] of 95.8 - 99.6) and specificity 88.5% (95% CI of 84.4 - 92.6). The positive predictive value was 65.6% and negative predictive value 99.4%. Only one infant who was at risk for motor disability was missed by the questionnaire. On evaluation of the questions in specific areas (i.e. speech, hearing, motor, vision, squint), the numbers assessed were too small for meaningful analysis. As personal and social development involves motor, language and hearing skills, this area was not used on its own in the overall assessment of the infant, but those questions were incorporated into other areas of the screen. Of concern was that a number of infants screened positive for DD on certain questions (e.g. language), but on assessment were found to have disability i n a different developmental area (e.g. motor). In these cases, the questionnaire identified the children with disability - but for the incorrect reason. Certain issues would need to be addressed prior to implementation of the screening tool to ensure an adequate, appropriate screening procedure and prevention of falsely raising the expectations of parents. This involves personnel training, monitoring of screening, referral mechanisms, intervention once DD is identified and involvement of the family as a partner in the process.