Technological Capability Building in South Korea: Some Lessons for Pakistan

Recent economic upheavals raise important questions about the nature of the transformation that has taken place in the East Asian economics. Are these economics really catching up with the West? Is there growth process sustainable? Or will they suffer the type of systemic disintegration experienced by the East European countries during the 1990s—Paul Krugman (1994) and Young (1994) had demonstrated similarities in the East Asian and East European growth paths some time ago. Technological upgrading is an important element in the development of a sustainable growth strategy. This paper seeks to describe policies and initiatives taken by the South Korean government to stimulate technological learning during 1960–1990—the decades during which the South Korean economy achieved a “miraculous” transformation. The description relics mainly on Korean sources and is based on our own field research in that country. Section one describes the technological learning processes and Section Two presents a discussion of the policies that facilitated this learning. Section Three briefly addresses the question: Did this type of technological learning make a contribution towards enhancing the sustainability of Korean development processes? The concluding section briefly reflects on the lessons that seem relevant for Pakistan.

Social Democratic Reform Proposals and the Future of Capitalism

This paper seeks to present an analysis of some issues raised in the debate on the future of capitalism by influential social democrats in recent years [Agleitta (1999); Habermas (1999); Rorty (1998)]. We begin with a brief description of capitalism's genesis, its characteristics and its need for moral legitimising and proceed to a slightly more extended discussion of capitalist processes at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The paper concludes with an assessment of initiatives proposed by social democratic thinkers such as Agleitta, Habermas and Rorty to strengthen capitalism and realise social democratic objectives—the universalisation of freedom and the promotion of liberal justices in rights centric societies.

Evidence-Based Practice Considerations In Facilitating The Risk Surveillance Of Occupational Exposure To Antineoplastic Agents

According to Martin and Larson (2003), healthcare professionals involved with handling antineoplastic drugs may be exposed inadvertently to these agents, placing them at potential risk for acute and long-term adverse effects. For example, cyclophosphamide one of the most frequently used antineoplastic agents in clinical treatment facilities, is a known human carcinogen (Larson, Khazaeli, & Dillon, 2003). While the health risks associated with cytotoxic use have been well established, there is little information available about how people perceive these risks, particularly among those most affected by it-chemotherapy nurses. Therefore, the purpose of this Evidence Based Practice (EBP) project was to develop a nurse practitioner knowledgebase regarding the impact of risk perception on the cytotoxic agent safety behaviors of oncology nurses. The research questions asked: (a) what is the level of healthcare knowledge regarding the role of the healthcare provider in facilitating risk surveillance of occupational exposure to antineoplastic agents? (b) according to the literature, how can healthcare providers contribute to cost-effective, high-quality care by facilitating risk surveillance of occupational hazards? and (c) according to the literature, how can healthcare providers contribute to cost-effective, high-quality care by facilitating risk surveillance of exposure to antineoplastic agents? A Boolean computer search of nursing and medical literature for theory-based, data-based, randomized controlled trials for citations utilizing CINAHL, MEDLINE, and the Cochrane Library was conducted for this systematic review. Becker’s Health Belief Model (1974) served as the theoretical foundation for this clinical project and guided the systematic review through data collection of the healthcare literature. Literature reviewed totaled 8 manuscripts, which represented reviews of another 122 references. Studies of healthcare workers have shown that occupational exposure to antineoplastic agents has caused acute adverse effects such as nausea, headache and dizziness (Valanis, Vollmer, Labuhn, & Glass, 1997). Exposure risk and its relationship to healthcare professionals’ compliance to established protocols for the safe handling and administration of chemotherapy agents continues to be a concern for health care institutions (Ritchie, McAdams, & Fritz, 2000). The literature reviewed for this study recommends compliance with established safety guidelines to ensure adequate protection to those involved in the handling, administration, and care of patients receiving antineoplastic agents. Yet despite the adoption of these guidelines in healthcare institutions, the current literature also suggests that many workers do not follow the standards established by their employers and current OSHA guidelines, putting themselves at risk for exposure to potential mutagenicity, alterations in fertility and long­ term effects from chemotherapy agents (Valanis, Vollmer, Labuhn, & Glass, 1997). Using an Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) approach, based on that of Sackett, Straus, Richardson, Rosenberg, and Haynes (2000), a knowledgebase was developed vi according to methods described by Davidson (2003) in which key findings from the systematic review of randomized control trials, data-based and theory-based literature were compared with current practice guidelines, resulting in a number of safe practice recommendations. These recommendations emphasize that safe levels of exposure to antineoplastic agents have not been determined therefore; it is essential to minimize exposure. The need for fiirther attention to risk surveillance of occupational exposure to antineoplastics in advanced practice nursing literature is critical. Evidence-based practice modalities that will utilize current guidelines in the risk surveillance of occupational exposure to antineoplastic agents are essential for nurse practitioner application in oncology settings. Implications for nursing theory, nursing research, advanced nursing practice, nurse practitioner education, and health policy are provided as they emerge from the concepts explored

Technological Capability Building in South Korea: Some Lessons for Pakistan

Recent economic upheavals raise important questions about the nature of the transformation that has taken place in the East Asian economics. Are these economics really catching up with the West? Is there growth process sustainable? Or will they suffer the type of systemic disintegration experienced by the East European countries during the 1990s—Paul Krugman (1994) and Young (1994) had demonstrated similarities in the East Asian and East European growth paths some time ago. Technological upgrading is an important element in the development of a sustainable growth strategy. This paper seeks to describe policies and initiatives taken by the South Korean government to stimulate technological learning during 1960-1990—the decades during which the South Korean economy achieved a “miraculous” transformation. The description relics mainly on Korean sources and is based on our own field research in that country. Section one describes the technological learning processes and Section Two presents a discussion of the policies that facilitated this learning. Section Three briefly addresses the question: Did this type of technological learning make a contribution towards enhancing the sustainability of Korean development processes? The concluding section briefly reflects on the lessons that seem relevant for Pakistan

Karo Kari : the murder of honour in Sindh Pakistan : an ethnographic study

This paper aims to discuss the wider context, in which honour murders occur, the social structures which contribute to the occurrence and perpetuation of the practice of honour murders. An ethnographic fieldwork was conducted in Jacobabad Sindh, Pakistan. The study found that honour murders were not solely driven by customs and traditions, but also by a feudal culture, male-dominated social structures, the complicit role of state institutions and law enforcement agencies and a web of vested interests. Therefore, honour murders may be prevented by reducing the influence and interference of feudal lords on state institutions, in particular law enforcement agencies, and by promoting education that challenges a patriarchal and feudal mind-set in the community

Social Democratic Reform Proposals and the Future of Capitalism

This paper seeks to present an analysis of some issues raised in the debate on the future of capitalism by influential social democrats in recent years [Agleitta (1999); Habermas (1999); Rorty (1998)]. We begin with a brief description of capitalism's genesis, its characteristics and its need for moral legitimising and proceed to a slightly more extended discussion of capitalist processes at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The paper concludes with an assessment of initiatives proposed by social democratic thinkers such as Agleitta, Habermas and Rorty to strengthen capitalism and realise social democratic objectives—the universalisation of freedom and the promotion of liberal justices in rights centric societies

Experiencing space–time: the stretched lifeworlds of migrant workers in India

In the relatively rare instances when the spatialities of temporary migrant work, workers’ journeys, and labour-market negotiations have been the subject of scholarly attention, there has been little work that integrates time into the analysis. Building on a case study of low-paid and insecure migrant manual workers in the context of rapid economic growth in India, we examine both material and subjective dimensions of these workers’ spatiotemporal experiences. What does it mean to live life stretched out, multiplyattached to places across national space? What kinds of place attachments emerge for people temporarily sojourning in, rather than moving to, new places to reside and work? Our analysis of the spatiotemporalities of migrant workers’ experiences in India suggests that, over time, this group of workers use their own agency to seek to avoid the experience of humiliation and indignity in employment relations. Like David Harvey, we argue that money needs to be integrated into such analysis, along with space and time. The paper sheds light on processes of exclusion, inequality and diff erentiation, unequal power geometries, and social topographies that contrast with neoliberalist narratives of ‘Indian shining