Clive P. Mitchell, Gareth Morgan and John Gallacher
The evaluation of primary and other care services for older people remains difficult due to the challenges of cost‐effective sampling and assessment of older people's views. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The evaluation of primary and other care services for older people remains difficult due to the challenges of cost‐effective sampling and assessment of older people's views. The internet is an increasingly attractive option for evaluation due to its low cost and flexibility of use. The purpose of this paper is to report on a pilot study into the use of a web‐platform with older people.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 552 community dwelling men and women, aged at least 50 years, participated in an epidemiologic study conducted entirely remotely which included questions on the provision of services for older people.
Findings
The sample was heterogeneous being 52 per cent male, an age range of 50‐95 years (x¯=64 years) and with 13 per cent being in the two most deprived categories of social deprivation. Awareness of the National Service Framework for older people was low (14 per cent). For areas covered by the policy satisfaction with the availability of services was generally high (>70 per cent), whilst satisfaction with level of consultation was low (≤30 per cent).
Originality/value
This study shows that the internet is a viable technology for the evaluation of primary and other care services in older people.
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To examine the weblogs written by members of UK legislatures and to determine whether such weblogs address commonly cited criticisms of MPs' web sites and serve to bridge the gap…
Abstract
Purpose
To examine the weblogs written by members of UK legislatures and to determine whether such weblogs address commonly cited criticisms of MPs' web sites and serve to bridge the gap between representative and constituent.
Design/methodology/approach
Examination of the literature on MPs' web sites to draw up a list of common criticisms. Construction of evaluation criteria to analyse the blogs in terms of content, currency, design, interactivity and evidence of personality both as a snapshot and over a longer period.
Findings
That weblogs are, on the whole, kept up to date and show promising levels of activity. Blogs enable constituents to see with what their MPs have been involved (on both the local and the Parliamentary stages) and to see what areas of policy particularly interest their MP. Personality of the MPs is apparent on most of the blogs, which are less party‐oriented than many MPs' web sites. Although the gap between representatives and constituents may have been bridged to an extent, blogging is still largely a top‐down form of communication – even though people do submit relevant and pertinent comments to the blogs, proper two‐way debate is rarely seen and comments are not always acknowledged or answered.
Research limitations/implications
Based on a small number of blogs covering the UK only.
Practical implications
Provides simple evaluation criteria that could be applied to blogs in other areas.
Originality/value
Provides a useful first structured analysis of weblogs written by elected representatives, on which further work can be undertaken once the sample size has increased and existing blogs are more established.
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John Gallacher, Clive Mitchell, Andrea Rengifo and Paul Burton
Understanding what is meant by ‘the good life’ has challenged philosophers and scientists for centuries with contrasting views emphasising either virtue or success. This study…
Abstract
Understanding what is meant by ‘the good life’ has challenged philosophers and scientists for centuries with contrasting views emphasising either virtue or success. This study applies structural equation modelling (SEM) to the self‐evaluations of older people to explore how they perceive ‘the good life’. Self‐evaluations were used to operationalise the concepts underlying ‘the good life’ with life satisfaction being used to provide a global evaluation of flourishing (overall life quality), self‐esteem being used to assess commitment to virtue and self‐efficacy being use to assess commitment to success. A population sample of 632 men and women aged 50 years and older, recruited to participate in an epidemiologic study, were consented and assessed online. Participation included psychological assessment. The analysis presents baseline data for this sample.After adjustment for negative emotions (anxiety and depression) age, self‐report health, deprivation and financial status, a path analysis found that life satisfaction was influenced by self‐esteem (β=0.27, pThese findings may be interpreted at several levels, although inferences on causality must be tentative. In terms of ‘the good life’, the global evaluation of life by older people is directly influenced by virtue rather than success, with success being important insofar as it contributes to virtue. In short, older people deriving satisfaction from achieving things they consider to be worthwhile: the wisdom of years.
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John Gallacher, Clive Mitchell, Luke Heslop and Gary Christopher
This paper's aim is to explore factors underlying resilience to health adversity, where resilience is defined as better perceived health after adjusting for the presence of doctor…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper's aim is to explore factors underlying resilience to health adversity, where resilience is defined as better perceived health after adjusting for the presence of doctor diagnosed heart disease, stroke or diabetes (vascular disease).
Design/methodology/approach
A population sample of 667 men and women aged 50+ years from South Wales was recruited to participate in an epidemiologic study and were consented and assessed online. Participation included health status, psychological and cognitive assessment. Structural equation modelling was used to model causal pathways. The analysis presents baseline data for this sample.
Findings
After adjustment for vascular disease, self‐esteem was associated with higher perceived health (β=0.279, p<0.001) whilst depression was associated with lower perceived health (β=−0.368, p<0.001). Self‐efficacy and anxiety were not associated with perceived health. Further analysis found self‐esteem to buffer an effect of vascular disease on depression, reducing the impact of depression on perceived health.
Practical implications
Cognitive and affective factors are involved in resilience, in relation to health these are specific to self‐esteem and depression. Although more complex associations may be found with other adversities, in relation to health, interventions to improve self‐esteem and ameliorate depression are likely to increase resilience.
Originality/value
Resilience has been modelled as a process involving cognitive and affective response to adversity. In the context of health, the adverse effect of depression on health perception was mediated by self‐esteem. These associations add to the understanding of the processes underlying resilience and suggest opportunities for interventions designed to increase resilience to health adversities.
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Mukesh Bajaj, Sumon C. Mazumdar and Daniel A. McLaughlin
Following the Supreme Court’s 1988 decision in Basic, securities class plaintiffs can invoke the “rebuttable presumption of reliance on public, material misrepresentations…
Abstract
Following the Supreme Court’s 1988 decision in Basic, securities class plaintiffs can invoke the “rebuttable presumption of reliance on public, material misrepresentations regarding securities traded in an efficient market” [the “fraud-on-the-market” doctrine] to prove classwide reliance. Although this requires plaintiffs to prove that the security traded in an informationally efficient market throughout the class period, Basic did not identify what constituted adequate proof of efficiency for reliance purposes.
Market efficiency cannot be presumed without proof because even large publicly traded stocks do not always trade in efficient markets, as documented in the economic literature that has grown significantly since Basic. For instance, during the recent global financial crisis, lack of liquidity limited arbitrage (the mechanism that renders markets efficient) and led to significant price distortions in many asset markets. Yet, lower courts following Basic have frequently granted class certification based on a mechanical review of some factors that are considered intuitive “proxies” of market efficiency (albeit incorrectly, according to recent studies and our own analysis). Such factors have little probative value and their review does not constitute the rigorous analysis demanded by the Supreme Court.
Instead, to invoke fraud-on-the-market, plaintiffs must first establish that the security traded in a weak-form efficient market (absent which a security cannot, as a logical matter, trade in a “semi-strong form” efficient market, the standard required for reliance purposes) using well-accepted tests. Only then do event study results, which are commonly used to demonstrate “cause and effect” (i.e., prove that the security’s price reacted quickly to news – a hallmark of a semi-strong form efficient market), have any merit. Even then, to claim classwide reliance, plaintiffs must prove such cause-and-effect relationship throughout the class period, not simply on selected disclosure dates identified in the complaint as plaintiffs often do.
These issues have policy implications because, once a class is certified, defendants frequently settle to avoid the magnified costs and risks associated with a trial, and the merits of the case (including the proper application of legal presumptions) are rarely examined at a trial.
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THE Reference Department of Paisley Central Library today occupies the room which was the original Public Library built in 1870 and opened to the public in April 1871. Since that…
Abstract
THE Reference Department of Paisley Central Library today occupies the room which was the original Public Library built in 1870 and opened to the public in April 1871. Since that date two extensions to the building have taken place. The first, in 1882, provided a separate room for both Reference and Lending libraries; the second, opened in 1938, provided a new Children's Department. Together with the original cost of the building, these extensions were entirely financed by Sir Peter Coats, James Coats of Auchendrane and Daniel Coats respectively. The people of Paisley indeed owe much to this one family, whose generosity was great. They not only provided the capital required but continued to donate many useful and often extremely valuable works of reference over the many years that followed. In 1975 Paisley Library was incorporated in the new Renfrew District library service.
Public external examinations were woven into the fabric of the education system of New South Wales (NSW) during the first three decades of the 20th century. By the late 1920s…
Abstract
Public external examinations were woven into the fabric of the education system of New South Wales (NSW) during the first three decades of the 20th century. By the late 1920s examination results had become the fetish and goal of most teachers and pupils in the state. In the early 1930s a reaction to this state of affairs developed; examination reform became a lively issue of debate. Central to the debate was the issue of the examination which marked the close of general adolescent education: the Intermediate Certificate (IC) examination. The agitation for IC modification began in the 1930s and did not cease until the 1960s. It began in the dissatisfaction of the 1930s, developed through the 1940s when opinion crystallized, survived the stagnation in educational reform of the late 1940s and early 1950s, quickly revived during the professional and public discussion surrounding the hearing and deliberations of the Committee Appointed to Survey Secondary Education in New South Wales (Wyndham Committee) and finally ceased with its abolition in the mid 1960s.
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The Howard Shuttering Contractors case throws considerable light on the importance which the tribunals attach to warnings before dismissing an employee. In this case the tribunal…
Abstract
The Howard Shuttering Contractors case throws considerable light on the importance which the tribunals attach to warnings before dismissing an employee. In this case the tribunal took great pains to interpret the intention of the parties to the different site agreements, and it came to the conclusion that the agreed procedure was not followed. One other matter, which must be particularly noted by employers, is that where a final warning is required, this final warning must be “a warning”, and not the actual dismissal. So that where, for example, three warnings are to be given, the third must be a “warning”. It is after the employee has misconducted himself thereafter that the employer may dismiss.
Elizabeth Hirons, Alan Simon and Clive Simon
The aim of this study was to determine whether customer satisfaction can be used as a reliable measure of the performance of the management of a research and development (R&D…
Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine whether customer satisfaction can be used as a reliable measure of the performance of the management of a research and development (R&D) department. A study of a research and development department of an Australian manufacturing company was undertaken in 1995. R&D performance and external customer satisfaction were measured using seven dimensions of technical performance and seven dimensions of service quality. Expectations of external customer satisfaction were measured from the internal (staff of R&D department) and external customers’ (production, sales and administration) points of view. This was to highlight the gap between the staffs’ perceptions and the external customers’ perceptions of service provided. The study provides research and development managers with an additional tool for measuring their management performance.
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ALTHOUGH the first Public Libraries (Scotland) Act was placed on the Statute Book in 1853, it was not until 1899 that the Corporation of the City of Glasgow was empowered to…
Abstract
ALTHOUGH the first Public Libraries (Scotland) Act was placed on the Statute Book in 1853, it was not until 1899 that the Corporation of the City of Glasgow was empowered to establish and maintain public libraries throughout the city. Between 1876 and 1897 four attempts were made to secure public approval for the adoption of the Public Libraries (Scotland) Acts, but when all these efforts proved unsuccessful, the Corporation decided in June, 1888 to include in a Local Bill for submission to Parliament, certain clauses conferring upon themselves the power to become a library authority. Promoted in 1899, the Bill became known as the Glasgow Corporation (Tramways, Libraries, etc.) Act 1899, and the library clauses passed through Parliament without opposition and received Royal Assent on 1st August, 1899. The powers conferred by this Local Act empowered the Corporation: