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.

Shared Education in contested spaces: How collaborative networks improve communities and schools

Societies which suffer from ethnic and political divisions are often characterised by patterns of social and institutional separation, and sometimes these divisions remain even after political conflict has ended. This has occurred in Northern Ireland where there is, and remains, a long-standing pattern of parallel institutions and services for the different communities. A socially significant example lies in the education system where a parallel system of Catholic and Protestant schools has been in place since the establishment of a national school system in the 1830s. During the years of political violence in Northern Ireland a variety of educational interventions were implemented to promote reconciliation, but most of them failed to create any systemic change. This paper describes a post-conflict educational initiative known as Shared Education which aims to promote social cohesion and school improvement by encouraging sustained and regular shared learning between students and broader collaboration between teachers and school leaders from different schools. The paper examines the background to work on Shared Education, describes a ‘sharing continuum’ which emerged as an evaluation and policy tool from this work and considers evidence from a case study of a Shared Education school partnership in a divided city in Northern Ireland. The paper will conclude by highlighting some of the significant social and policy impact of the Shared Education work.

Démocratie et justice sociale : Arrow-Harsanyi- Rawls-Sen, un quatuor dissonant

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Mental health facilities in Iowa : a descriptive handbook, 1952

This pamphlet on mental health facilities in Iowa was undertaken to meet the need for certain factual and practical information which the Iowa Mental Health Authority, the Board of control of State Institutions, the State Department of Social Welfare and the State University of Iowa School of Social Work felt would be helpful to workers in the field.

¿Cuál es el problema con el cálculo de utilidad?

Un problema de la ética del bien común, planteado por Franz Hinkelammert es el que representa el “calculo de utilidad”. En el articulo se valora positivamente el carácter consecuencialista de este planteamiento, a la vez que se señalan las virtudes de ciertas versiones del utilitarismo, así como las dificultades con expresiones como “utilidad” o “bienestar para todos”. También se propone recurrir a las ideas de Hinkelammert en el orden del reconocimiento de los limites de factibilidad, lo cual permitiría realizar una crítica original y constructiva a las corrientes utilitaristas y consecuencialistas predominantes. Abstract One problem of the common good ethics posed by Franz J. Hinkelammert is the “calculation of utility”. In this article the consequentialist character of this exposition is positively valued and at the same time it is pointed out the virtues of certain versions of utilitarism as well as, the difficulties posed by expressions as “utility” and “well-being”. It is proposed also to resort to Hinkelammert’s ideas in the orden of recognition of the feasibility limits which would allow us to make a original and constructive critic to the prevailing utilitarian and consequentialist currents.

Crime and Punishment.

The study of Victorian crime and punishment is a rich area of research that has attracted the interest not only of literary scholars but also of social historians, legal historians, and criminologists. Related scholarship therefore often situates itself at the intersection of traditional disciplinary boundaries, facilitating interdisciplinary conversation. Crime and punishment was a pressing issue for the Victorians and provoked a wealth of responses from contemporaneous commentators in literature, culture, and science. As a new phase of industrialization brought immense wealth for some and abject poverty for others, Victorian urban centers in particular were afflicted by crime. Without an effective system of social welfare in place, social inequality and deprivation drove women, men, and children into petty crime and more serious offenses, resulting in severe punishment ranging from incarceration via penal transportation to hanging. Public executions, not abolished until 1868, attracted huge crowds of spectators, including authors such as Charles Dickens and William Thackeray, who wrote about these experiences. A forerunner of the popular press, street literature conveyed and illustrated these events for a broad audience. Execution broadsides of famous cases, printing the alleged last lamentations of convicts on the scaffold in verse, are estimated to have sold by the million. As the legal system was undergoing reform (comprising changes in legal evidence procedure, divorce law, women’s property rights, and punishment for sexual offenses, for example), sensational trials caused furor and stimulated commentary in literature and the media. Crime and punishment was discussed in a range of literary and popular genres, poetry, and reformist writing. The “Newgate School” of fiction was accused of glamorizing crime, and the popular penny dreadfuls were feared to corrupt public morals. Sensational fiction in the 1860s, which often drew on real-life criminal cases and newspaper reports, depicted the supposedly respectable middle-class family home as a center of transgression. Similarly, detective fiction typically focused on crime in the world of the middle classes. For the student new to the subject of crime and punishment, this area’s interdisciplinary nature can pose an initial challenge.

Plano de ação para a sustentabilidade energética do Município de Vale de Cambra

O crescimento exponencial da população mundial que assentou essencialmente na utilização de combustíveis fósseis e o facto de aproximadamente ¾ da população mundial viver em cidades, criou uma situação insustentável de emissões de CO2 para a atmosfera. No sentido de minimizar e tentar reverter este comportamento a União Europeia criou o programa Pacto dos Autarcas, que visa o comprometimento de um território em reduzir as suas emissões de CO2 em, pelo menos, 20% até 2020, através do chamado Plano de Ação. O presente trabalho pretende desenvolver um possível Plano de Ação para a Sustentabilidade Energética para o município de Vale de Cambra. Da realização da matriz energética para este município foi inventariado o consumo de 47.154 tep e respectivas emissões de CO2 associada de 108.084 toneladas, para o ano de referência 2012. Face ao estudo compreendido entre 2002 e 2012 são previstos consumos e emissões na ordem de 54.327 tep e 123.059 toneladas de CO2 respetivamente até 2020 caso não sejam tomadas medidas para inverter essa tendência. Baseado na interpretação da matriz energética criada, propõe-se um conjunto de ações nas áreas da indústria, mobilidade, edifícios, energias renováveis, eficiência energética, governabilização e ainda sensibilização/formação para obter uma redução de 20% das emissões e consumo em 2020, passando para 98.447 toneladas de CO2 emitidas e 43.462 tep respetivamente. Conclui-se que o planeamento energético de um território é de elevada importância porque permite articular vários aspectos, conseguindo aumentar a protecção do ambiente (com a redução de emissões de gases efeito de estufa) e aumentando a eficiência energética do território, aumenta a sua competitividade económica e consequentemente maior oportunidade de investimentos externos, criando mais oportunidades de emprego e bem-estar social.

Natureza morta...edifício com vida: uma arquitetura sustentável para o Serviço de Verificação de Óbitos

Sustainability in buildings, while reducing the impact on the environment, contributes to the promotion of social welfare, to increase the health and productivity of occupants. The search for a way of build that meets the aspirations and development of humanity without, however, represent degradation of the environment, has become the great challenge of contemporary architecture. It is considered that the incorporation of principles that provide a sustainable building with careful choices of design solutions contribute to a better economic and thermal performance of the building, as well as functional and psychological comfort to its users. Based on this general understanding, this paper presents an architecture project aimed to health care whose the solutions adopted follow carefully the relevant legislation and sets his sights on the theme of sustainability. The methodology began with studies on the themes of verification service of deaths, sustainability and those application in construction developed through research in academic studies and analysis of architectural projects, using them like reference for the solutions adopted. Within the project analysis was performed a visit to the verification service of deaths in the city of Palmas in Tocantins, subsidizing information that, plus the relevant legislation, led to functional programming and pre-dimensional of the building to be designed. The result of this programming environments were individual records with information from environmental restrictions, space required for the development of activities, desirable flow and sustainability strategies, that can be considered as the first product of relevance of the professional master's degree. Finally we have outlined the basic design architecture of a Verification Service of Death SVO/RN (in portuguese), whose process of projecting defined as a guiding line of work four points: the use of bioclimatic architecture as the main feature projectual, the use of resources would provide minimal harm to the environment, the use of modulation and structure to the building as a form of rationalization and finally the search for solutions that ensure environmental and psychological comfort to users. Importantly to highlight that, besides owning a rare theme in literature that refers to architectural projects, the whole project was drawn up with foundations in projective criteria that contribute to environmental sustainability, with emphasis on thermal performance, energy efficiency and reuse of rainwater

Concepções sobre as relações entre ciência, tecnologia, inovação e o desenvolvimento no Proem do Câmpus Cornélio Procópio da UTFPR

This dissertation deals with the conceptions of the relationship between science, technology, innovation, development and society. We aimed to analyze the ways to conceive these relations in documents of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (Proem) of the Federal Technological University of Paraná (UTFPR) and analyze the conceptions of these relations in view of managers and participants of the Program on Campus Cornélio Procópio, locus of research. It is recognized that the concepts of science, technology, innovation and development are polysemic, so varied are the definitions given by different theorists. For the research were characterized these conceptions into two streams, one called traditional or conservative current, which is supported by the classical theories, that is, those that were developed by authors recognized as classics, and the other current, referred to as critical concepts that sustains it are presented by authors recognized as critical, among which houses the Science studies, Technology and Society (CTS). This categorization buoyed analysis of Proem documents and analysis of the statements collected through interviews with three managers of Proem and eleven participants in the Program. As a result of the research, in general, although there is evidence in Proem documents of a social concern in relation to its role in society, it was observed that the program is based on the traditional and hegemonic view on the subject. In the documents analysis, it was noticed that the conceptions arranged CTS studies are present in relation to the multidimensional development concept. However, the texts analyzed, mostly were identified strong indications of thought supported by logical positivism, in propositions that refer to marketing issues, a proposal to generate an entrepreneurial culture guided by the development of technological innovations designed to meet and / or induce market demands, through production methods for popular goods. As for how managers and participants Proem in Campus Cornelius conceive the relationship between science, technology, innovation, development and society, also was identified closer to the classical view, although the respondents have pointed out many times in their speak apparent concern with social issues, like designing the development from a multidimensional view as cover critical studies CTS. The views of the participants, it was possible to link the strengthening of the concept connected to the linear model of development, in which the more it generates science, more is generated technology and more technology therefore produces more wealth, which in turn, the Schumpeterian view, is the basis of social welfare.

Development Begins at Home: Women and the Domestic Economy in Brazil, 1945-1975

A number of historians of twentieth-century Latin America have identified ways that national labor laws, civil codes, social welfare programs, and business practices contributed to a gendered division of society that subordinated women to men in national economic development, household management, and familial relations. Few scholars, however, have critically explored women's roles as consumers and housewives in these intertwined realms. This work examines the Brazilian case after the Second World War, arguing that economic policies and business practices associated with “developmentalism” [Portuguese: desenvolvimentismo] created openings for women to engage in debates about national progress and transnational standards of modernity. While acknowledging that an asymmetry of gender relations persisted, the study demonstrates that urban women expanded their agency in this period, especially over areas of economic and family life deemed "domestic." This dissertation examines periodicals, consumer research statistics, public opinion surveys, personal interviews, corporate archives, the archives of key women’s organizations, and government officials’ records to identify the role that women and household economies played in Brazilian developmentalism between 1945 and 1975. Its principal argument is that business and political elites attempted to define gender roles for adult urban women as housewives and mothers, linking their management of the household to familial well-being and national modernization. In turn, Brazilian women deployed these idealized roles in public to advance their own economic interests, especially in the management of household finances and consumption, as well as to expand legal rights for married women, and increase women’s participation in the workforce. As the market for women's labor expanded with continued industrialization, these efforts defined a more active role for women in the economy and in debates about the trajectory of national development policies.

La conception néolibérale de la justice: les cas comparés de Friedrich A. von Hayek et de Walter Lippmann

Le néolibéralisme, un terme qui désigne couramment la raison d’état contemporaine, est largement associé à un désinvestissement de l’État pour la cause sociale ainsi qu’à un discours de légitimation des disparités socio-économiques. Il s’agit, pour plusieurs, d’une idéologie qui ne considère pas la justice comme un idéal collectif à poursuivre. Un retour sur certains penseurs à qui l’on attribue la formulation des idées néolibérales permet toutefois de constater que la justice fut, au sein de leurs travaux, l’un des thèmes majeurs. L’objectif général de ce mémoire est donc de présenter la conception de la justice chez deux penseurs du néolibéralisme : le journaliste américain Walter Lippmann et l’économiste autrichien Friedrich A. von Hayek. Cette perspective comparée me permettra d’identifier ce que je nomme la «conception néolibérale» de la justice, conception qui s’articule à partir d’une compréhension singulière du marché. Dans le premier chapitre, je présente le problème central de la conception néolibérale de la justice, en abordant la posture épistémologique privilégiée par Hayek et Lippmann. Dans le deuxième chapitre, je présente certaines modalités de cette conception et soulève ses principales apories. Je soutiens aussi qu’une rupture survient entre Hayek et Lippmann autour de la notion de «responsabilité». Finalement, je compare la conception néolibérale de la justice avec la conception libertarienne présentée par Nozick. C’est à partir des critères de justice respectifs de chaque théorie que j’avance la distinction, au troisième chapitre, entre les deux conceptions pourtant similaires. Contrairement à une analyse courante qui fait du néolibéralisme un projet amoral, je soutiens que la reconnaissance de la dimension morale du discours néolibéral ouvre une fenêtre à partir de laquelle il devient possible de critiquer le projet sur des bases éthiques. C’est en identifiant la notion de justice à l’oeuvre dans le discours néolibéral contemporain et en l’inscrivant dans la tradition morale présentée dans le cadre de ce mémoire que nous sommes mieux à même de comprendre l’idéologie du néolibéralisme.

Water quality trading: credit stacking and ancillary benefits

Ecosystems can provide many services. Wetlands, for example, can help mitigate water pollution from point sources as well as non-point sources, serve as habitat for wildlife, sequester carbon and serve as a place for recreation. Studies have found that these services can have substantial value to society. The sale of ecosystem credits has been found to be a possible way to finance construction investments in wetlands and easements to farmers to take their land out of production. At the same time, selling one ecosystem service credit may not always be enough to justify the investment. Traditionally market participants have only been allowed to sell a single credit from one piece of land, but recently there have been discussions about the possibility of selling more than one credit from a piece of land because it potentially could lead to more efficient ecosystem service provision. Selling multiple credits is sometimes referred to as credit stacking. This paper is an empirical study of the potential for credit stacking applied to the services provided by wetlands in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, specifically nitrogen, phosphorus and wildlife credits. In the setting of our study where costs are discrete rather than continuous we found that wetlands are a cost-effective way to reduce the nitrogen loads from wastewater treatment plants and that stacking nitrogen, phosphorus and wildlife credits may improve social welfare while leading to a higher level of ecosystem services. However, for credit stacking to be welfare improving we found that there needs to be a substantial demand for the credit that covers the majority of the investment in wetlands, while the credit aggregator has a choice between what ecosystem projects to undertake. If the credit that covers the majority of investment is sold first and is the sole basis of the investment decision and the objective is to improve welfare, a sequential implementation of ecosystem credits is not recommended; it would not lead to an increase in the total amount of ecosystem services provided though it would increase profit for the credit producer.

O direito antitruste na economia digital : implicações concorrenciais do acesso a dados

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Direito, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Direito, 2016.

Démocratie et justice sociale : Arrow-Harsanyi- Rawls-Sen, un quatuor dissonant

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Psicomotricidade na promoção de competências pessoais e sociais : intervenção com jovens adultos em acompanhamento no âmbito de medidas de execução na comunidade

O presente relatório descreve as atividades realizadas no âmbito do Mestrado em Reabilitação Psicomotora, Ramo de Aprofundamento de Competências Profissionais da Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, realizado na Direção Geral de Reinserção e Serviços Prisionais, Equipa Lisboa 1. O trabalho pressupôs a conceção e implementação de um Programa de Competências Pessoais e Sociais, dirigido a jovens adultos em acompanhamento no âmbito de medidas de execução na comunidade. O Programa encontra-se dividido em três áreas de intervenção: Comunicação Interpessoal, Autorregulação e Resolução de problemas e é composto por 22 sessões, tendo sido implementado na Casa de São Bento, a oito sujeitos, com idades compreendidas entre os 18 e 25 anos. Os resultados obtidos na intervenção permitiram observar melhorias, tanto a nível relacional, como emocional e comportamental, verificando-se uma evolução positiva por parte dos participantes. Na parte final deste relatório é realizada uma análise dos resultados obtidos, por forma a avaliar o impacto do programa, e são apresentadas as dificuldades, conclusões e sugestões para intervenções futuras.