Mixed and Hybrid Models of Public Service Delivery

This symposium presents research from different contexts to improve our collective understanding of a variety of aspects of mixed forms of service delivery, be they mixed contracting at the level of the market (which is more common in the U.S.), or mixed management and ownership at the level of the firm (which is more common in Europe). The articles included in this special symposium examine the factors that give rise to mixed forms of service delivery (e.g., economic and fiscal stress, regulatory flexibility, geography, management) and how these factors impact their design and operation. Articles also explore the performance of mixed forms of service delivery relative to more conventional arrangements like contracted or direct service delivery. The articles contribute to a better theoretical and conceptual understanding of mixed/hybrid forms of services delivery.

Acute Effects of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide in Healthy Subjects.

BACKGROUND: After no research in humans for >40 years, there is renewed interest in using lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in clinical psychiatric research and practice. There are no modern studies on the subjective and autonomic effects of LSD, and its endocrine effects are unknown. In animals, LSD disrupts prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle response, and patients with schizophrenia exhibit similar impairments in PPI. However, no data are available on the effects of LSD on PPI in humans. METHODS: In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover study, LSD (200 μg) and placebo were administered to 16 healthy subjects (8 women, 8 men). Outcome measures included psychometric scales; investigator ratings; PPI of the acoustic startle response; and autonomic, endocrine, and adverse effects. RESULTS: Administration of LSD to healthy subjects produced pronounced alterations in waking consciousness that lasted 12 hours. The predominant effects induced by LSD included visual hallucinations, audiovisual synesthesia, and positively experienced derealization and depersonalization phenomena. Subjective well-being, happiness, closeness to others, openness, and trust were increased by LSD. Compared with placebo, LSD decreased PPI. LSD significantly increased blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, pupil size, plasma cortisol, prolactin, oxytocin, and epinephrine. Adverse effects produced by LSD completely subsided within 72 hours. No severe acute adverse effects were observed. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to marked hallucinogenic effects, LSD exerts methylenedioxymethamphetamine-like empathogenic mood effects that may be useful in psychotherapy. LSD altered sensorimotor gating in a human model of psychosis, supporting the use of LSD in translational psychiatric research. In a controlled clinical setting, LSD can be used safely, but it produces significant sympathomimetic stimulation.

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Our lives and careers are becoming ever more unpredictable. The "life-design paradigm" described in detail in this ground-breaking handbook helps counselors and others meet people's increasing need to develop and manage their own lives and careers. Life-design interventions, suited to a wide variety of cultural settings, help individuals become actors in their own lives and careers by activating, stimulating, and developing their personal resources. This handbook first addresses life-design theory, then shows how to apply life designing to different age groups and with more at-risk people, and looks at how to train life-design counselors.

Proteomics and chronic inflammatory bowel diseases.

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are relatively frequent in developed countries. Physiopathological events involved in the etiology of IBDs include activation of immune, mesenchymal and epithelial cells. This review gives an overview of the currently applied proteomics technologies. It describes metabolic changes and goes into the approaches using this methodology to understand the molecular mechanisms implicated in the development of the disease.

La influència dels jocs cooperatius en la millora de les relacions interpersonals i la cohesió d'un grup

Actualment la tasca que desenvolupa l’escola és procurar que tots els infants es desenvolupin integralment, independentment de les característiques. En aquest marc sorgeix l’escola inclusiva, la qual ha d’estar preparada per atendre a tots i fer que aprenguin alumnes diferents al màxim de les seves possibilitats. Perquè això sigui real, l’escola ha de buscar noves maneres per a què els alumnes puguin aprendre no tan sols contingut sinó també valors, habilitats socials, cognitives, lingüístiques, entre moltes altres. Es per aquest motiu que la recerca vol portar a la pràctica i comprovar si mitjançant una eina lúdica, com són els jocs cooperatius, es milloren algunes habilitats socials i la cohesió d’un grup classe, en el qual també es té en compte la integració social d’una nena diagnosticada amb Trastorns Generalitzats del Desenvolupament (TGD) i, concretament, presenta trets autistes. Aquesta activitat educativa proporciona contextos nous on interactuar i desenvolupar bones pautes de relació per a tots així com també afavoreix la cohesió de grup, les relacions interpersonals i la integració d’infants amb dificultats en la interacció social.

Estereotips i prejudicis sobre l'aspecte físic: Com veiem a les persones atractives?

L’objectiu principal d’aquesta investigació ha estat identificar i descriure els estereotips i prejudicis sobre les persones físicament atractives, a més de conèixer si hi ha diferències entre la visió dels adolescents i la visió dels adults en relació a aquest tema. Per a complir aquests objectius, el present estudi s’ha portat a terme amb adolescents de 12 a 19 anys i amb adults de 20 a 60 anys, als quals se’ls hi ha passat un qüestionari dissenyat específicament per a aquesta investigació. A partir de les seves respostes, els resultats clau han estat, per una banda, que no s’han trobat grans diferències entre adolescents i adults, i, per una altra banda, que els models corporals ideals i preferits per ambdues mostres són el musculat i el prim, a més que l’atractiu físic s’associa, en general, amb característiques socialment positives, principalment amb la competència social i a l’èxit.

Sacral fusion as an aid in age estimation

The degree of fusion at the anterior aspect of the sacral vertebrae has been scored in 242 male and female skeletons from the Lisbon documented collection, ranging in age from 16 to 59 years old. Statistical tests indicate a sex difference towards earlier fusion in young females compared with young males, as well as a clear association between degree of fusion and age. Similar results have been found in documented skeletal samples from Coimbra and Sassari, and the recommendations stated by these authors regarding age estimation have been positively tested in the Lisbon collection. Although more research from geographically diverse samples is required, a general picture of the pattern of sacral fusion and its associations with age and sex is emerging. We also provide a practical example of the usefulness of the sacrum in age estimation in a forensic setting, a mass grave from the Spanish Civil War. It is concluded that the scoring of the degree of fusion of the sacral vertebrae, specially of S1-2, can be a simple tool for assigning skeletons to broad age groups, and it should be implemented as another resource for age estimation in the study of human skeletal remains.

Markkinamekanismit sähkön tukkumarkkinoilla

Diplomityön tavoitteena on tehdä katsaus sähkömarkkinoiden integroitumiseen Euroopassa. Lisäksi keskeinen tavoite on löytää integraatiokehitystä ohjaavia tekijöitä, ja vertailla eri alueiden yhdistymiskehitystä. Markkinaintegraation taustalla on Euroopan Unionin tavoitteet luoda yhtenäiset sähkön sisämarkkinat. Aluksi kuitenkin luodaan alueelliset sähkömarkkinat, jotka yhdistetään yhteen myöhemmin. Työssä tarkastellaan Pohjoismaiden sähkömarkkinoita ja pörssitoimintaa. Tämän lisäksi paneudutaan Saksan, Ranskan, Hollannin ja Belgian sähkömarkkinoihin, sähköpörsseihin ja markkinaintegraatioprosesseihin. Näillä alueilla yhdistymisprosessit ovat edenneet kaikkein pisimmälle, joten ne ovat mielenkiintoisia tarkastelukohteita. Kutakin aluetta käsitellään sen omista lähtökohdista käsin ja lisäksi tehdään vertailu eri markkina-alueiden kehityksestä. Toinen näkökulma on tarkastella EU:n muiden alueiden (Iso-Britannia, Iberia, Italia ja Kreikka) sähkömarkkinoita ja integraatioprosesseja. Osassa näitä alueita on ollut ongelmia markkinoiden avaamisessa ja yhdistymiskehityksessä, joten näistä saadaan hyviä vertailukohtia. Merkittävä osa työtä on myös perehtyä erilaisiin hinnoittelumekanismeihin pörsseissä, ja siirtoverkon ruuhkaisuuden käsittelyyn liittyviin malleihin. Tässä yhteydessä esitellään myös yhdysvaltalaisia sähkömarkkinoita, ja siirtoverkon kapasiteetinjakomenetelmiä Euroopassa.

Older consumers adopting information and communication technology: Evaluating opportunities for health care applications

The purpose of this dissertation is to analyse older consumers' adoption of information and communication technology innovations, assess the effect of aging related characteristic, and evaluate older consumers' willingness to apply these technologies in health care services. This topic is considered important, because the population in Finland (as in other welfare states) is aging and thus offers a possibility for marketers, but on the other hand threatens society with increasing costs for healthcare. Innovation adoption has been under research from several aspects in both organizational and consumer research. In the consumer behaviour, several theories have been developed to predict consumer responses to innovation. The present dissertation carefully reviews previous research and takes a closer look at the theory of planned behaviour, technology acceptance model and diffusion of innovations perspective. It is here suggested that there is a possibility that these theories can be combined and complemented to predict the adoption of ICT innovations among aging consumers, taking the aging related personal characteristics into account. In fact, there are very few studies that have concentrated on aging consumers in the innovation research, and thus there was a clear indent for the present research. ICT in the health care context has been studied mainly from the organizational point of view. If the technology is thus applied for the communication between the individual end-user and service provider, the end-user cannot be shrugged off. The present dissertation uses empirical evidence from a survey targeted to 55-79 year old people from one city in Southern-Carelia. The empirical analysis of the research model was mainly based on structural equation modelling that has been found very useful on estimating causal relationships. The tested models were targeted to predict the adoption stage of personal computers and mobile phones, and the adoption intention of future health services that apply these devices for communication. The present dissertation succeeded in modelling the adoption behaviour of mobile phones and PCs as well as adoption intentions of future services. Perceived health status and three components behind it (depression, functional ability, and cognitive ability) were found to influence perception of technology anxiety. Better health leads to less anxiety. The effect of age was assessed as a control variable, in order to evaluate its effect compared to health characteristics. Age influenced technology perceptions, but to lesser extent compared to health. The analyses suggest that the major determinant for current technology adoption is perceived behavioural control, and additionally technology anxiety that indirectly inhibit adoption through perceived control. When focusing on future service intentions, the key issue is perceived usefulness that needs to be highlighted when new services are launched. Besides usefulness, the perception of online service reliability is important and affects the intentions indirectly. To conclude older consumers' adoption behaviour is influenced by health status and age, but also by the perceptions of anxiety and behavioural control. On the other hand, launching new types of health services for aging consumers is possible after the service is perceived reliable and useful.

La incidencia de la toma de apuntes sobre el aprendizaje significativo. Un estudio de enseñanza superior.= The incidence of notetaking on meaningful learning. A study of higher education.

En este estudio presentamos una experiencia llevada a cabo con estudiantes de la asignatura “Psicología de la Educación” de diferentes centros universitarios. Tomando como marco de referencia las teorías constructivistas del aprendizaje, el objetivo de nuestro trabajo se centra en comprobar la incidencia de la utilización de diferentes estrategias de enseñanza por parte del profesor y de determinadas estrategias de aprendizaje en el proceso de registrar la información por parte de los estudiantes, en la significatividad del aprendizaje.Los resultados obtenidos muestran que en los grupos donde los profesores han utilizado estrategias de enseñanza diferentes a la clase magistral, se ha producido un cambio positivo en las respuestas de los estudiantes o se ha mantenido el mismo nivel, mientras que el grupo donde se ha utilizado una metodología magistral, el nivel de respuesta es inferior. Así mismo, hemos podido observar como los grupos de estudiantes que utilizan las estrategias de aprendizaje seleccionadas para tomar apuntes mejoran su nivel de respuestas, lo cual no se produce en el grupo control

Työpaikan psykologinen terveys

Kirjallisuusarvostelu

Beta and debt premium for a Finnish distribution company

Suomessa sähkönjakelu on säännelty monopoli. Energiamarkkinavirasto tuottaa ohjeistuksen sekä mallin yritysten ansaintamahdollisuuksille. Karkeasti sanottuna tulomalli on sijoitetun pääoman ja pääoman painotetun kustannuksen tulo. Pääoman painotettu kustannus koostuu useista parametreista kuten beta ja vieraan pääoman riskipreemio. Näiden parametrien taso ja määrittämisajankohta perustuvat subjektiivisiin näkemyksiin, kun objektiivista parametrien määrittämismenetelmää tulisi käyttää. Nykyiset beta ja vieraan pääoman riskipreemio perustuvat energiamarkkinaviraston ja asiantuntijoiden lausuntoihin. Aihealuetta on tutkittu erittäin vähän, mikä johtunee pääasiassa siitä, ettei ole olemassa listautuneita puhtaita jakeluverkkoyhtiöitä. Betan nykytaso on 0.529 ja vieraan pääoman riskipreemio on 1.0 %. Tässä pro gradu –työssä määritetään markkinaperusteisesti betan ja vieraan pääoman riskipreemion nykytaso. Tässä työssä esiteltävä määrittämismalli perustuu puhtaasti markkinadataan eikä sen soveltamisessa käytetä subjektiivisia mielipiteitä. Markkinaehtoisia tietoja käyttäen betan pitäisi olla tasolla 0.525 ja vieraan pääoman riskipreemion tasolla 1.34 %. Nämä luvut, mikäli ne otettaisiin käyttöön, vaikuttaisivat suoraan ja positiivisesti jakeluverkkoyhtiöiden sallittuun tuottoon Suomessa.