Show us you are poor and a good citizen: public assistance eligibility in Chinese main cities

This paper examines the eligible criteria of the Minimum Living Standard Scheme (MLSS) in Chinese main cities. The MLSS policy documents of 31 Chinese cities were obtained from relevant local governments' websites and then analysed by NVivo 10 for Windows. It was found that the cities are using several criteria to assess the eligibility of public assistance applicants, including income, expenditures, living space, household electrical appliances, leisure, motivation to work, and acceptable behaviour. It is obvious that the local governments have adopted a life-style assessment approach to decide the eligibility of the applicants. This approach, however, has two main weaknesses. Firstly, the MLSS claimants have to demonstrate that they are in extreme hardship and this has separated them from the rest of society. Their poor quality of life will be a barrier to their social integration to community. Secondly, some terms about the quality of life style are too ambiguous and different cities have different criteria on a poor living standard. As public assistance criteria vary from city to city, this leads to an unequal access to public benefits among Chinese citizens

Workfare in the undemocratic states: the case of China

This article examines the problems caused by workfare in China. It is found that China’s public assistance scheme is managed mainly by volunteers and government officials who do not necessarily possess relevant qualifications. Also, welfare claimants’ benefits can be ceased without going through a rigorous procedure; they can hardly challenge the decisions of the authority because China’s judicial system is interfered by central and local senior officials. This article concludes that workfare is a product of Western democratic countries; its implementation in undemocratic states will only increase power abuses among welfare bureaucrats and threaten the rights of claimants. </jats:p

Generalized effects of video modeling on establishing instructional stimulus control in children with autism: Results of a preliminary study

Video modeling has been suggested as a powerful treatment tool that has concentrated on increasing a variety of skills in children with autism. However, it has rarely been examined as a behavioral procedure for eliminating kinds of behaviors (e.g., noncompliance), a target that is often included in children’s support plans. The present study provides preliminary effects of video modeling on establishing instructional stimulus control over a simple behavior (cleaning up a toy) that required the termination of an ongoing activity. Three children with autism participated, and experimental control was accomplished using a multiple-baseline-across-subjects design. The results showed that this procedure can be effective for children with lower baseline levels of disruptive behaviors and more developed imitation skills. Successful responding generalized across stimuli and subjects and was maintained at a 1-month follow-up assessment. Specific guidelines for building video modeling into real teaching situations are also discussed

Hong Kong: workfare in the world's freest economy

Workfare was introduced in many countries to suppress welfare dependency and reduce social security expenditures. However, workfare was launched in Hong Kong when there was only a relatively small social security budget and its citizens still strongly adhered to the ideologies of self-reliance. It was found that workfare has performed several functions in Hong Kong. Firstly, it has forced unemployed claimants to give up benefits so that Hong Kong's social security expenditures can be saved. Secondly, workfare had combined with Hong Kong's semi-democratic polity so that extremely stigmatising welfare measures were implemented. Thirdly, it has pushed poor citizens to the labour market without having any protection over wages and working hours. Thus, the combination of workfare and a semi-democratic polity has successfully suppressed Hong Kong's welfare demands and strengthened its self-help spirit. As a result, Hong Kong's minimal social security scheme and its low tax policy have been maintained

Global public health training in the UK: preparing for the future.

BACKGROUND: Many major public health issues today are not confined by national boundaries. However, the global public health workforce appears unprepared to confront the challenges posed by globalization. We therefore sought to investigate whether the current UK public health training programme adequately prepares its graduates to operate in a globalized world. METHODS: We used mixed methods involving an online cross-sectional survey of UK public health trainees on the international content of the Faculty of Public Health's written examination, a qualitative review of the Faculty's 2007 training curriculum and a questionnaire survey of all training deaneries in the UK. RESULTS: We found that global health issues are not addressed by the current training curriculum or in the written examination despite trainee interest for this. Many of the deaneries were also unreceptive to international placements. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the recognized educational legitimacy of global health placements and the favourable UK policy context, the opportunities and international content of public health training remain limited. In order to retain its position as a leader in the field of public health, the UK needs to adapt its training programme to better reflect today's challenges

A simplified approach to quantitative coded aperture X-ray phase imaging

We recently demonstrated how quantitative X-ray phase contrast imaging may be performed with laboratory sources using the coded aperture technique. This technique required the knowledge of system parameters such as, for example, the source focal spot size and distances between elements of the imaging system. The method also assumes that the absorbing regions of the apertures are perfectly absorbing. In this paper we demonstrate how quantitative imaging can be performed without knowledge of individual system parameters and with partially absorbing apertures. We also show that this method is analogous to that employed in analyser based imaging which uses the rocking curve of an analyser crystal

ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE AND LUMINESCENCE OF CSI:NA

Calculations are performed on several aspects of the luminescence of pure CsI and CsI:Na. These include electronic-structure calculations by both pseudopotential and semi-empirical molecular-orbital methods, as well as lattice-configuration studies. The results suggest that the main observed emission in CsI:Na at 2.95 eV involves the recombination of a self-trapped exciton immediately adjacent to the substitutional Na impurity