Socio-Legal Studies in Germany and the UK: Theory and Methods

This Special Issue considers the situated and contextualized development of socio legal, or law and society, scholarship within two materially different legal and academic cultures, namely Germany and the United Kingdom, with a view to achieving a better understanding of why and how such differences in understanding and practice have arisen. The contributions are grouped into three themes. The first reflects upon the influence of institutional contexts and scholarly traditions in terms of the development of those approaches that come under the banner of socio legal studies. The second features contributions that adopt a comparative perspective in terms of selected areas of law, pointing to notably different approaches taken in Germany and the UK, and considering the development of these respective situations. The third looks at the key contemporary trends, theoretical applications, and methodological approaches taken within both countries’ socio legal academic contexts

Participation as a Framework for Analysing Consumers’ Experiences of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

This article argues that an analytic framework based on participation is useful for analyzing consumer experiences of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and provides a complementary approach to analyses drawing on procedural justice theory. The argument is developed by applying McKeever’s “ladder of legal participation” (LLP) to a qualitative data set of 33 interviews with UK consumers. The article concludes that applying the LLP in the consumer ADR context results in novel empirical and theoretical insights. Empirically, it demonstrates that – despite low value and transactional disputes – consumers expect high levels of participation from ADR. Theoretically, the article argues that the LLP supplements existing approaches by: providing a unifying lens for studying consumer experiences, which goes beyond examining the relationships between process and outcome; emphasizing the importance of participation, not only as a process value, but also in shaping outcomes; and highlighting the distinction between genuine and tokenistic provision of consumer ADR

Confusion, gaps, and overlaps: A consumer perspective on alternative dispute resolution between consumers and businesses

This report is about the help available to consumers who have experienced a problem with a business that they have been unable to resolve on their own. Some of these problems end up in the small claims courts, but increasingly consumers can turn to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) schemes. This report is about the UK’s current approach to ADR

Consumer protection in Turkey: law, informality and the role of the media. Monash University, Workplace and Corporate Law Research Group, Working Paper No. 21

This report is part of a University of Oxford John Fell funded collaborative project: Informality and the Media in Consumer Protection in Emerging Economies. This pilot project seeks to shed light upon consumer complaint behaviour through social media in emerging economies

Design of a game-based pre-hospital resuscitation training for first responders

Kalz, M., Schmitz, B., Biermann, H., Klemke, R., Ternier, S., & Specht, M. (2013). Design of a game-based pre-hospital resuscitation training for first responders. In A. Holzinger, M. Ziefle, & V. Glavinić (Eds.), SouthCHI 2013, LNCS 7946 (pp. 363-372). Germany: Springer, Heidelberg.This paper reports about the design of a game-based training intervention for pre-hospital resuscitation training. Our underlying assumption is, that survival chances in cardiac arrest situations could be significantly improved, if bystanders would be better educated and prepared to help. Based on a discussion of problems of current training concepts and related educational the-ories a game-based learning intervention is proposed. The focus of the interven-tion is the improvement of procedural knowledge and self-efficacy of partici-pants. The game is designed on the basis of the ARLearn platform. The game context and game-design is discussed. Last but not least we discuss short-term and long-term evaluation scenarios.This publication was partly financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), regions of the Euregio Meuse-Rhine and the participating institutions under the INTERREG IVa program (EMR.INT4-1.2.-2011-04/070, http://www.emurgency.eu)

A voice for change? Trust relationships between ombudsmen, individuals and public service providers

There has been a debate for years about what the role of the ombudsman is. This article examines a key component of the role, to promote trust in public services and government. To be able to do this, however, an ombudsman needs to be perceived as legitimate and be trusted by a range of stakeholders, including the user. This article argues that three key relationships in a person’s complaint journey can build trust in an institution, and must therefore be understood as a system. The restorative justice framework is adapted to conceptualize this trust model as a novel approach to understanding the institution from the perspective of its users. Taking two public sector ombudsmen as examples, the article finds that voice and trust need to be reinforced through the relationships in a consumer journey to manage individual expectations, prevent disengagement, and thereby promote trust in the institution, in public service providers, and in government

Glucagon-like peptide 1 improved glycemic control in type 1 diabetes

BACKGROUND: Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and its agonists are under assessment in treatment of type 2 diabetes, by virtue of their antidiabetic actions, which include stimulation of insulin secretion, inhibition of glucagon release, and delay of gastric emptying. We examined the potential of GLP-1 to improve glycemic control in type 1 diabetes with no endogenous insulin secretion. METHODS: Dose-finding studies were carried out to establish mid range doses for delay of gastric emptying indicated by postponement of pancreatic polypeptide responses after meals. The selected dose of 0.63 micrograms/kg GLP-1 was administered before breakfast and lunch in 8-hour studies in hospital to establish the efficacy and safety of GLP-1. In outside-hospital studies, GLP-1 or vehicle was self-administered double-blind before meals with usual insulin for five consecutive days by five males and three females with well-controlled C-peptide-negative type 1 diabetes. Capillary blood glucose values were self-monitored before meals, at 30 and 60 min after breakfast and supper, and at bedtime. Breakfast tests with GLP-1 were conducted on the day before and on the day after 5-day studies. Paired t-tests and ANOVA were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: In 8-hour studies time-averaged incremental (delta) areas under the curves(AUC) for plasma glucose through 8 hours were decreased by GLP-1 compared to vehicle (3.2 ± 0.9, mean ± se, vs 5.4 ± 0.8 mmol/l, p < .05), and for pancreatic polypeptide, an indicator of gastric emptying, through 30 min after meals (4.0 ± 3.1 vs 37 ± 9.6 pmol/l, p < .05) with no adverse effects. Incremental glucagon levels through 60 min after meals were depressed by GLP-1 compared to vehicle (-3.7 ± 2.5 vs 3.1 ± 1.9 ng/l, p < .04). In 5-day studies, AUC for capillary blood glucose levels were lower with GLP-1 than with vehicle (-0.64 ± 0.33 vs 0.34 ± 0.26 mmol/l, p < .05). No assisted episode of hypoglycaemia or change in insulin dosage occurred. Breakfast tests on the days immediately before and after 5-day trials showed no change in the effects of GLP-1. CONCLUSION: We have demonstrated that subcutaneous GLP-1 can improve glucose control in type 1 diabetes without adverse effects when self-administered before meals with usual insulin during established intensive insulin treatment programs