1,414 research outputs found
Logics of marginalisation in health and social care reform:integration, choice, and provider-blind provision
The period 2010–2013 was a time of far-reaching structural reforms of the National Health Service in England. Of particular interest in this paper is the way in which radical critiques of the reform process were marginalised by pragmatic concerns about how to maintain the market-competition thrust of the reforms while avoiding potential fragmentation. We draw on the Essex school of political discourse theory and develop a ‘nodal’ analytical framework to argue that widespread and repeated appeals to a narrative of choice-based integrated care served to take the fragmentation ‘sting’ out of radical critiques of the pro-competition reform process. This served to marginalise alternative visions of health and social care, and to pre-empt the contestation of a key norm in the provision of health care that is closely associated with the notions of ‘any willing provider’ and ‘any qualified provider’: provider-blind provision
Learning from the Success of MPI
The Message Passing Interface (MPI) has been extremely successful as a
portable way to program high-performance parallel computers. This success has
occurred in spite of the view of many that message passing is difficult and
that other approaches, including automatic parallelization and directive-based
parallelism, are easier to use. This paper argues that MPI has succeeded
because it addresses all of the important issues in providing a parallel
programming model.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figur
An appropriate tool for entrepreneurial learning in SMEs? The case of the 20Twenty Leadership Programme
The 20Twenty Leadership Programme was developed by Cardiff Metropolitan University as an executive education programme to be delivered within South Wales to small businesses. It is funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and administered by the Welsh European Funding Office and has the key aim of developing SME’s growth potential via a range of leadership and management skills, including a focus on ‘soft’ skills. The focus of this paper is to place the 20Twenty Leadership Programme within the wider context of entrepreneurship policy and SME training initiatives in particular, and then to examine the rationale and delivery methods of the Programme in relation to these. It also reflects on the Programme’s success (or otherwise) to date where possible. Finally, the paper seeks to suggest fruitful areas of further research both in terms of the 20Twenty Leadership Programme itself, but also with regard to evaluation in relation to other parallel programmes, and to SME training initiatives more generally
Enabling quantitative data analysis through e-infrastructures
This paper discusses how quantitative data analysis in the social sciences can engage with and exploit an e-Infrastructure. We highlight how a number of activities which are central to quantitative data analysis, referred to as ‘data management’, can benefit from e-infrastructure support. We conclude by discussing how these issues are relevant to the DAMES (Data Management through e-Social Science) research Node, an ongoing project that aims to develop e-Infrastructural resources for quantitative data analysis in the social sciences
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Performative Work: Bridging Performativity and Institutional Theory in the Responsible Investment Field
Callon’s performativity thesis has illuminated how economic theories and calculative devices shape markets, but has been challenged for its neglect of the organizational, institutional and political context. Our seven-year qualitative study of a large financial data company found that the company’s initial attempt to change the responsible investment field through a performative approach failed because of the constraints posed by field practices and organizational norms on the design of the calculative device. However, the company was subsequently able to put in place another form of performativity by attending to the normative and regulative associations of the device. We theorize this route to performativity by proposing the concept of performative work, which designates the necessary institutional work to enable translation and the subsequent adoption of the device. We conclude by considering the implications of performative work for the performativity and the institutional work literatures
The National Competency Framework for Registered Nurses in Adult Critical Care: an overview
In the years following the abolition of the English National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting in 2002, concerns were raised within the Critical Care nursing community about a lack of consistency in post-registration education programmes. In response to this, the Critical Care Network National Nurse Leads (CC3N) formed a sub-group, the Critical Care Nurse Education Review Forum (CCNERF) to address these concerns. A review of UK course provision confirmed marked inconsistency in the length, content and associated academic award. The CCNERF commenced a two-phase project, first developing national standards for critical care nurse education such as length of course and academic credit level, followed by the development of a national competency framework. Following significant review and revision, version two of the National Competency Framework for Registered Nurses in Adult Critical Care was published by CC3N in 2015. This paper introduces the National Competency Framework and provides an overview of its background, development and implementation. It then considers the future direction of UK post-registration Critical Care nurse education
Routine activities and proactive police activity: a macro-scale analysis of police searches in London and New York City
This paper explored how city-level changes in routine activities were associated with changes in frequencies of police searches using six years of police records from the London Metropolitan Police Service and the New York City Police Department. Routine activities were operationalised through selecting events that potentially impacted on (a) the street population, (b) the frequency of crime or (c) the level of police activity. OLS regression results indicated that routine activity variables (e.g. day of the week, periods of high demand for police service) can explain a large proportion of the variance in search frequency throughout the year. A complex set of results emerged, revealing cross-national dissimilarities and the differential impact of certain activities (e.g. public holidays). Importantly, temporal frequencies in searches are not reducible to associations between searches and recorded street crime, nor changes in on-street population. Based on the routine activity approach, a theoretical police-action model is proposed
Design management: changing roles of the professions
This paper sets out to explore how recent changes in
procurement in construction have affected the roles that
professions play in the design process. It discusses how
professions that traditionally took the role of design
manager now find themselves participating within
previously unforeseen contexts, working in multidisciplinary
teams led by contractors and with changed
responsibilities at the design stage. Supply chain members
who were not previously involved during the early project
phases are being engaged at the earliest phases of the
project life cycle and even taking leadership roles while
designers sometimes work as supply chain partners.
A study of design in construction and other sectors shows
that in dealing with design management issues it is critical
to deepen appreciation for the unique characteristics of
design and the design process. The paper argues that
contractors and designers taking on design management
roles in a dynamic industry seeking to explore best
practice and innovative approaches to procurement and in
the delivery of projects need to acquire new skills,
management education and develop the necessary
qualities
'Prove me the bam!': victimization and agency in the lives of young women who commit violent offences
This article reviews the evidence regarding young women’s involvement in violent crime and, drawing on recent research carried out in HMPYOI Cornton Vale in Scotland, provides an overview of the characteristics, needs and deeds of young women sentenced to imprisonment for violent offending. Through the use of direct quotations, the article suggests that young women’s anger and aggression is often related to their experiences of family violence and abuse, and the acquisition of a negative worldview in which other people are considered as being 'out to get you' or ready to 'put one over on you'. The young women survived in these circumstances, not by adopting discourses that cast them as exploited victims, but by drawing on (sub)cultural norms and values which promote pre-emptive violence and the defence of respect. The implications of these findings for those who work with such young women are also discussed
Primary Care Staff's Views and Experiences Related to Routinely Advising Patients about Physical Activity. A Questionnaire Survey
Background: United Kingdom public health policy has recently re-emphasised the role of primary health care professionals in tackling increasing levels of physical inactivity within the general population. However,
little is known about the impact that this has had in practice. This study explores Scottish primary care staff's knowledge, attitudes and experiences associated with advising patients about physical activity during
routine consultations.
Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey of general practitioners (or family physicians), practice nurses and health visitors based in four health regions was conducted during 2004. The main outcome measures included: i) health professionals' knowledge of the current physical activity recommendations;
(ii) practice related to routine physical activity advising; and (iii) associated attitudes.
Results: Questionnaires were returned by 757 primary care staff (response rate 54%). Confidence and enthusiasm for giving advice was generally high, but knowledge of current physical activity recommendations was low. In general, respondents indicated that they routinely discuss and advise patients about physical activity regardless of the presenting condition. Health visitors and practice nurses
were more likely than general practitioners to offer routine advice.
Lack of time and resources were more likely to be reported as barriers to routine advising by general practitioners than other professional groups. However, health visitors and practice nurses were also more likely than general practitioners to believe that patients would follow their physical activity advice giving.
Conclusion: If primary health care staff are to be fully motivated and effective in encouraging and supporting the general population to become more physically active, policymakers and health professionals need to engage in efforts to: (1) improve knowledge of current physical activity recommendations and population trends amongst frontline primary care staff; and (2) consider the development of tools to support individual assessment and advice giving to suit individual circumstances. Despite the fact that this study found that system barriers to routine advising were less of a problem than other previous research has indicated, this issue still remains a challenge
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