Search results

The background to this paper is the increasing interest in the relationship between housing and municipal services and HIV/AIDS. The purpose of this paper is to clarify what, precisely, one has in mind when thinking that housing and municipal services might prevent HIV infection and associated opportunistic infections. The focus is not on the socioeconomic dimensions but on the modes of transmission associated with specific opportunistic infections. That is, the paper first disputes the relevance of housing and services to HIV prevention, but then demonstrates that housing and municipal services are important for (a) the prevention of certain opportunistic infections to which people affected by HIV/AIDS are particularly vulnerable, and (b) for the provision of home-based care.

In addition to the medical focus of the paper, there is attention to the empirical backdrop on the relation between housing, municipal services and HIV/AIDS, analysing survey findings regarding among whom and where HIV prevalence is highest, and projections regarding the extent of HIV infections and AIDS based on the World Health Organization clinical staging system. Using Johannesburg as a case study, it is demonstrated that the number of persons having AIDS is smaller than one might expect and also that the number is already declining, which has implications for the provision of home-based care. However, it is also shown that the number of households that lost one or several members is increasing rapidly. In this context, labour force surveys are employed to identify the impacts on specific categories of households. At this stage, a defining unknown is the scale, nature and location of these reconstituted households and what this means for housing policy.

Finally, a feature of the research was the extent to which medical practitioners viewed housing as a quixotic sideline within the broader struggle for HIV prevention and the provision of treatment. In sum, the paper provides an argument for incorporating housing and municipal services into both HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment programmes.

This paper aims to examine the socio-spatial transformation of earthquake-affected neighbourhoods as a setting for understanding post-disaster recovery trajectories of people, their opportunities for achieving housing recovery and their housing recovery outcomes.

Adopting a case study approach, this paper focuses on two neighbourhoods located in old urban areas of the city of Bhuj, India. The authors map the transformation of the built environment from before the earthquake, immediately after the earthquake and 10 years after the earthquake. While explaining the morphological changes of the built environment, the authors examine the associated changes in the social fabric of the neighbourhoods by explaining who stayed in their neighbourhoods, who moved out or moved in and who were displaced after the earthquake.

The authors explore the role of post-disaster public policies, including urban planning, in these changes and in shaping the opportunities of households and individuals for achieving recovery. These policies are compared and contrasted with other urban disaster responses to provide a better understanding of the possibilities of achieving more just recovery outcomes.

This paper contributes to the scant literature on post-disaster planning in cities of developing countries.

These days, managers have to be constantly aware of means of potential growth if they want to stay in the game. Competition from similar products, changing technology and increasing costs all play their part in putting pressure on firms to keep rethinking and expanding. Mergers are more and more frequent and many businesses have expanded to become global organizations. But if growth is sometimes the only option it is also very often a risky one. Expansion demands investment of time, money and people and has to be carefully managed to bring the desired returns. Though there is a way to increase the odds of success: simple and effective communication in all directions.

To present some of the strategies companies adopt to persuade customers to pay the huge prices that the luxury end of the market can command.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Selling expensive goods to people who can well afford them may sound easy, but when it comes to parting with their hard‐earned (or, in some cases extremely easily earned or even inherited) wealth, the luxury goods market can be as competitive as the one that caters for those of us who come much lower down the disposable income league

To be aware of the risks that luxury goods manufacturers face in focusing on customers who, far from being part of the mass market, are relatively few in number.

SOCIAL scientists have not yet been able to formulate any general laws about behaviour in industry that are capable of broad application. In recent years, however, they have made many useful case studies of which the one just published by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research is typical. It is an approach to the problem which can do much to increase the understanding of the way in which people react to common industrial situations.

“Wanted”, it said above a hunted culprit on the front of a national, Swedish tabloid. The two grim‐faced mug shots belonged to Kurt Hellström, CEO of Ericsson, Sweden’s most important telecommunications company. Over in England, Ben Verwaayen, chief executive of Britain’s largest telco, BT, made his 48th company pep talk since joining the company just nine months previously. It fell on anxious, unhumored ears. Needless to say, for shareholders and employees across Europe, the telecom industry is not a comfortable place to be.

The most salient fact about the relationship between sociology and mental retardation is its lack of interest in the topic. Sociologists, as well as anthropologists, who study medical care, health systems, the insane, deviant behaviour and social stratification have conspicuously avoided the examination of those individuals in society who are developmentally disabled. As the British sociologist Richard Jenkins (1991) asks regarding the study of the mentally retarded

Although support exists for the effectiveness of treatment for personality disordered offenders there is limited knowledge about the processes underlying the therapeutic change. The purpose of this paper is to explore the treatment experiences of six male psychopathic offenders who attended a social skills treatment component implemented within a high-secure personality disorder treatment service.

Interview transcripts were analysed by the lead researcher (first author) using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) who compared and contrasted findings to develop superordinate themes across the group. External auditing analysis was conducted by the second author.

Several themes were identified that may indicate the unique ways this client group experienced treatment. These related to the importance of “group cohesion” with treatment progression and shared learning experiences, the significance of “therapeutic alliance” with treatment providers and perceived effectiveness of treatment, and the conflict participants experienced when acquiring and applying skills from their engagement in treatment. Participants identified aspects of the treatment component that facilitated the effectiveness of treatment and were effective in meeting their needs and some that would benefit from improvement.

Positive group dynamics are important. Operational staff inclusion within the facilitation team is beneficial. Attentiveness to participants’ specific responsivity needs is required. Supporting skill application post-treatment is important.

These findings add to the evidence base in relation to factors that support personality disordered offenders’ engagement within treatment. Areas that validate treatment delivery are highlighted, as are suggestions for change to maximise treatment gain for psychopathic and personality disordered offenders.

This paper reviews the theoretical case for industrial policy (coordination) provided by theories of multiple equilibria. It is argued that for most less developed countries the case for industrial policy (government coordination) is best made with respect to agriculture. Those states that have succeeded in terms of government policy promoting economic development, began with the agricultural sector.