Proposal for a Substance Abuse Testing Act

This is the Report of the Task Force on the Drug-Free Workplace, sponsored by the Institute of Bill of Rights Law of the College of William and Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of Law. The Report contains an introduction describing the mission of the Task Force and the guiding philosophical principles it embraced, an Executive Summary providing a summary overview of the proposed model statute, the formal text of the proposed model Substance Abuse Testing Act, including commentary illuminating the intent and rationales underlying each provision of the Act, biographical information on all members of the Task Force, and a brief individual statement by each Task Force member

Report of the CGIAR Task Force on Central/Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union

Final report of a task force established at ICW95 to assess what, if any, research collaboration the CGIAR should undertake with the 28 countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. It was presented at CGIAR International Centers Week in October - November 1996 by Task Force chair Rudy Rabbinge. A preliminary version of the report was discussed at MTM96. The Task Force recommended extending the CGIAR's geographic mandate to the area, which it divided into two regions with differing needs: Central and Eastern Europe, and Central Asia and the Caucasus. Countries in latter group qualified on per capital income levels alone for CGIAR attention. Programs undertaken should fall within a comprehensive strategy to be developed, correspond with CGIAR priorities and comparative advantage, and be financed with resources additional to those currently available to the CGIAR. Specific activities that could be implemented while planning was continuing were identified at ICARDA, CIMMYT, IPGRI, and ISNAR.Annexes include a paper on agricultural knowledge systems in transitional economies, tables of human, physical, and economic indicators for the countries, a list of CGIAR missions to the area, highlights of a workshop on research and seed production needs in dryland agriculture in the West and Central Asian republics, and a list of proposed CGIAR project activity

Digital information and the 'privatisation of knowledge'

Purpose of this paper: To point out that past models of information ownership may not carry over to the age of digital information. The fact that public ownership of information (for example, by means of national and public library collections) created social benefits in the past does not mean that a greater degree of private sector involvement in information provision in the knowledge society of today is synonymous with an abandonment of past ideals of social information provision. Design/methodology/approach: A brief review of recent issues in digital preservation and national electronic heritage management, with an examination of the public/private sector characteristics of each issue. Findings: Private companies and philanthropic endeavours focussing on the business of digital information provision have done some things - which in the past we have associated with the public domain - remarkably well. It is probably fair to say that this has occurred against the pattern of expectation of the library profession. Research limitations/Implications:The premise of this paper is that LIS research aimed at predicting future patterns of problem solving in information work should avoid the narrow use of patterns of public-private relationships inherited from a previous, print-based information order. Practical implications: This paper suggests practical ways in which the library and information profession can improve digital library services by looking to form creative partnerships with private sector problem solvers. What is original/value of the paper? This paper argues that the LIS profession should not take a doctrinaire approach to commercial company involvement in 'our' information world. Librarians should facilitate collaboration between all parties, both public and private, to create original solutions to contemporary information provision problems. In this way we can help create pragmatic, non-doctrinaire solutions that really do work for the citizens of our contemporary information society

Results from the Scottish national HAI prevalence survey

A national point prevalence survey was undertaken over the period of one calendar year in Scotland from October 2005 to October 2006. The prevalence of healthcare-associated infection (HAI) was 9.5% in acute hospitals and 7.3% in non-acute hospitals. The highest prevalence of HAI in acute hospital inpatients was found in the following specialties: care of the elderly (11.9%), surgery (11.2%), medicine (9.6%) and orthopaedics (9.2%). The lowest prevalence was found in obstetrics (0.9%). The most common types of HAI in acute hospital inpatients were: urinary tract infections (17.9% of all HAI), surgical site infections (15.9%) and gastrointestinal infections (15.4%). In non-acute hospitals one in ten inpatients in two specialties (combined) medicine (11.4%) and care of the elderly (7.8%) was found to have HAI, and one in 20 inpatients in psychiatry (5.0%) had HAI. In non-acute hospital patients, urinary tract infections were frequent (28.1% of all HAI) and similarly skin and soft tissue infection (26.8% of all HAI). When combined, these two HAI types affected 4% of all the inpatients in non-acute hospitals. This is the first survey of its kind in Scotland and describes the burden of HAI at a national level

Understanding the scale and nature of outcome change in area-regeneration programmes: evidence from the New Deal for Communities Programme in England

The New Deal for Communities (NDC) Programme is one of the most intensive area-based initiatives (ABIs) launched in England. Between 1998 and 2010, 39 NDC Partnerships were charged with improving conditions in relation to six outcomes within deprived neighbourhoods, each accommodating around 9,800 people. Data point to only modest change, much of which reflected improving attitudes towards the area and the environment. There are problems in identifying positive people-based outcomes because relatively few individuals benefit from relevant initiatives. Few positive benefits leak out of NDC areas. Transformational change was always unlikely bearing in mind the limited nature of additional resources, and because only a minority of individuals directly engage with NDC projects. This evidence supports perspectives of ABIs rooted in 'local-managerialism'