The organization, form and function of intermediate care services and systems in England: results from a national survey

This paper reports the results of a postal survey of intermediate care co-ordinators (ICCs) on the organization and delivery of intermediate care services for older people in England, conducted between November 2003 and May 2004. Questionnaires, which covered a range of issues with a variety of quantitative, ‘tick-box’ and open-ended questions, were returned by 106 respondents, representing just over 35% of primary care trusts (PCTs). We discuss the role of ICCs, the integration of local systems of intermediate care provision, and the form, function and model of delivery of services described by respondents. Using descriptive and statistical analysis of the responses, we highlight in particular the relationship between provision of admission avoidance and supported discharge, the availability of 24-hour care, and the locations in which care is provided, and relate our findings to the emerging evidence base for intermediate care, guidance on implementation from central government, and debate in the literature. Whilst the expansion and integration of intermediate care appear to be continuing apace, much provision seems concentrated in supported discharge services rather than acute admission avoidance, and particularly in residential forms of post-acute intermediate care. Supported discharge services tend to be found in residential settings, while admission avoidance provision tends to be non-residential in nature. Twenty-four hour care in non-residential settings is not available in several responding PCTs. These findings raise questions about the relationship between the implementation of intermediate care and the evidence for and aims of the policy as part of NHS modernization, and the extent to which intermediate care represents a genuinely novel approach to the care and rehabilitation of older people.

Uzasadnienie szczególnej ochrony ubezpieczonych na gruncie III filaru emerytalnego

Reforma systemu emerytalnego polegająca na zmianie systemu zdefiniowanego świadczenia na system zdefiniowanej składki spowodowała zmniejszenie wysokości otrzymywanych świadczeń przez przyszłych emerytów. Działania takie zmusiły zainteresowanych do poszukiwania dodatkowych źródeł utrzymania. Jednym z takich źródeł może być uzupełniający system emerytalny, określany mianem trzeciego filaru emerytalnego. Jego cechą charakterystyczną jest dobrowolność. Dla jego rozwoju niezbędne jest zapewnienie wzmożonego poziomu ochrony ubezpieczonych. Środki te dotyczą zarówno ogólnej polityki konsumenckiej, jak i regulacji cywilnoprawnych oraz administracyjnoprawnych. W praktyce można wyróżnić dwa poziomy ochrony ubezpieczonych w ramach trzeciego filaru. Poziom pierwszy jest właściwy dla wszystkich ubezpieczonych, natomiast drugi poziom zawiera regulacje ograniczone do uzupełniającego systemu emerytalnego.

Ernest Mercier, le pétrole et la France

Ernest Mercier est l’un des patrons les plus influents de l'entre-deux-guerres en France. Ses différentes activités industrielles l'ont conduit à siéger sur de vastes pans de l’économie française, notamment du secteur énergétique. La thèse retrace la carrière pétrolière d'un homme qui a joué un rôle central pour le développement d'une industrie devenue stratégique, mais qui est embryonnaire lorsqu'il rejoint ce secteur après la Première Guerre mondiale. Mercier assiste et assure la création d'une industrie pétrolière nationale. Les obstacles se font légion contre les ambitions pétrolières de la France. Elle se présente bien tard sur un marché étroitement contrôlé par de puissants trusts. La recherche et l'exploitation pétrolière demandent d'importantes ressources, et aucune société française n'a les moyens d'une politique indépendante. Certaines banques se lancent alors dans les affaires de pétrole en s'alliant aux grands trusts internationaux. C'est le cas de Paribas; la gestion de ses avoirs roumains représente la première expérience de Mercier dans ce secteur. L'État s'intéresse aussi au pétrole, il devient un acteur incontournable. Le gouvernement français n'a pourtant pas les moyens de ses ambitions dans le domaine pétrolier. La politique nationale mise en place durant l'entre-deux-guerres doit faire appel à l'épargne privée française. La création d'une compagnie nationale, la Compagnie française des pétroles, en 1924 regroupe ainsi les différentes banques et sociétés intéressées au pétrole. Mercier est personnellement choisi par le président Raymond Poincaré pour mener à bien cette mission. Cette carrière s'articule donc autour d'un fragile équilibre entre milieux privés et gouvernement. Mercier devient rapidement l'intermédiaire incontournable qui régit ces relations. La thèse s'appuie sur les archives bancaires et industrielles, mais aussi sur celles du gouvernement français et de ses différents ministères. Cette analyse de la carrière d'Ernest Mercier permet de retracer les origines du secteur pétrolier français et l'action déterminante d'un homme. Elle expose les mécanismes d'influence d'une puissante banque d'affaires et les conflits d'intérêts qu'engendre l'exploitation pétrolière.

From privatisation to nationalisation: Repsol-YPF, 1999–2012

In April 2012 Argentinean Government nationalized 51% of Repsol shares in YPF. Expropiation of YPF is a new step in a broad list of protectionist and interventionist decisions, such as the nationalization of Aerolíneas Argentinas, nationalization of private pension plans, or the amendments of the Central Bank regulations to make the use of reserves more flexible. Institutions set the rules of the game for citizens and companies, allowing incentives and creating expectations. Nationalization of the above mentioned Argentinean companies has created legal uncertainty bringing a relevant increase in the risk premium as a result. Privatization of YPF and its later nationalization, together with the company shareholder composition, and resulting international disputes will be addressed in this article.

El principio de igualdad y no discriminación en relación con la pensión de viudedad y el «matrimonio gitano»

El punto de partida de nuestro estudio se sitúa en el polémico y discutido asunto resuelto por la sentencia del Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos de 8 de diciembre de 2009, Caso Muñoz Díaz c. España, donde se condena al Estado español por denegar la pensión de viudedad a una ciudadana casada exclusivamente por el rito matrimonial gitano. Al hilo de esta resolución analizaremos, entre otras cuestiones, las diversas formas matrimoniales a las que nuestro legislador otorga efectos civiles, la incidencia de dichas disposiciones en el principio de igualdad y no discriminación consagrado en el artículo 14 de la Constitución y en el artículo 14 del Convenio Europeo de Derechos Humanos, y la posible vulneración de dicho principio en el marco de las prestaciones sociales reguladas en la Ley General de la Seguridad Social, recientemente reformada.

Relevância dos impostos diferidos : caso das empresas cotadas em Portugal

Mestrado em Contabilidade, Fiscalidade e Finanças Empresariais

Private protected areas in Australia: current status and future directions

Despite the recognised importance of private land for biodiversity conservation, there has been little research into systems of private protected areas at a country-wide level. Here I look at definitions, legislation, ownership, management approaches and effectiveness, distribution and incentives provided to private protected areas in Australia. The term 'private protected areas', although increasingly used, still suffers from a lack of a clear and concise definition in Australia. Australian states and territories have legislation enabling the application of conservation covenants over private land; covenants being the primary mechanism to secure conservation intent on the title of the land in perpetuity. If considering all 'in perpetuity' conservation covenants under a dedicated program to be private protected areas and land owned by non-government organisations and managed for the purpose of biodiversity conservation, there were approximately 5,000 terrestrial properties that could be considered private protected areas in Australia covering 8,913,000 ha as at September 2013. This comprises almost 4,900 conservation covenants covering over 4,450,000 ha and approximately 140 properties owned by private land trusts covering approximately 4,594,120 ha. Most conservation covenanting programs now seek to complement the comprehensiveness, adequacy and representativeness of the public reserve system, either stating so explicitly or by aiming to protect the highest priority ecosystems on private land. There are a range of incentives offered for private land conservation and requirements of owners of private protected areas to report on their activities vary in Australia. However, there are a number of key policy challenges that need to be addressed if private protected areas are to achieve their full potential in Australia, including managing broad-scale ecosystem processes, protection and tenure reform, improved financial incentives, and access to emerging ecosystem service markets.

Sustainability, A-REITs and the global financial crisis

While environmental sustainability has grown in importance to governments and the community, the purpose of this paper is to examine the environmental sustainability activities of A-REITs over the period of the global financial crisis. Using a content analysis methodology similar to Newell, annual reports and home websites for 24 of the largest A-REITs (which have also been a constituent of the ASX 300 index) are analysed to determine the extent of their sustainable investment activities. The Green Building Council of Australia and NABERS websites are also explored. Given the increasing focus on sustainable commercial property, the study finds that A-REIT investment into these properties has been rather conservative and slow. There are, however, some A-REITs that have tried to lead in the field even during the period of the global financial crisis. Relatively solid and stable returns on equity and assets appear to be achieved by such A-REITs in the years during and following this crisis.

From Mill Gates to Magic City: U.S. Steel and Welfare Capitalism in Gary, Indiana, 1906-1930

Gary, Indiana is a city with indelible ties to industrial paternalism. Founded in 1906 by United States Steel Corporation to house workers of the trust’s showpiece mill, the emergence of this model company town was both the culmination of lessons learned from its predecessors’ mistakes and innovative corporate planning. U.S. Steel’s Progressive Era adaptation of welfare capitalism characterized the young city through a combination of direct community involvement and laissez-faire social control. This thesis examines the reactionary implementation of paternalist policies in Gary between 1906 and 1930 through the purviews of three elements under corporate influence: housing, education, and social welfare. Each category demonstrates how both the corporation and citizenry affected and adapted Gary’s physical and cultural landscape, public perceptions, and community identity. Parallel to the popular narrative throughout is that of Gary’s African-American community, and the controversial circumstances of this population’s segregated development.

Rescission and substitute property:Bainbridge v Bainbridge [2016] EWHC 898 (Ch)

One of the unresolved issues concerning equity’s jurisdiction to set aside dispositions for mistake is the nature of the proprietary consequences that ensue. The decision in Bainbridge v Bainbridge sheds further light on this important issue, but also illustrates that some important aspects concerning the application of rescission needs further clarification. The key issue concerned the rescission of a trust, where parts of the land had been sold by the trustees who had used the proceeds of sale to buy two new plots of land. Part of the reasoning used by Master Matthews relied upon authorities, developed in the context of fraudulently induced transfers of money, which requires careful consideration of the relationship between the principle in Pitt v Holt and unjust enrichment.

An approach on improving search engines through social content recommendation

Internet growth has provoked that information search had come to have one of the most relevant roles in the industry and to be one of the most current topics in research environments. Internet is the largest information container in history and its facility to generate new information leads to new challenges when talking about retrieving information and discern which one is more relevant than the rest. Parallel to the information growth in quantity, the way information is provided has also changed. One of these changes that has provoked more information traffic has been the emergence of social networks. We have seen how social networks can provoke more traffic than search engines themselves. We can draw conclusions that allow us to take a new approach to the information retrieval problem. Public trusts the most information coming from known contacts. In this document we will explore a possible change in classic search engines to bring them closer to the social side and adquire those social advantages.

Trust, security and privacy in emerging distributed systems FGCS

The rapid development and increasing complexity of computer systems and communication networks coupled with the proliferation of services and applications in both Internet-based and ad-hoc based environments have brought network and system security issues to the fore. We have been witnessing ever-increasing cyber attacks on the network and system leading to tarnished confidence and trusts in the use of networked distributed systems. As a result, there is an increasing demand for development of new trust, security and privacy approaches to guarantee the privacy, integrity, and availability of resources in networked distributed systems.

Role of index bonds in an optimal dynamic asset allocation model with real subsistence consumption

We investigate the role of index bonds in a dynamic consumption and asset allocation model where the rate of real consumption at any given time cannot fall below a fixed level. An explicit form of the optimal consumption and portfolio rule for a class of Constant Relative Risk Aversion (CRRA) utility functions is derived. Consumption increases above the subsistence level only when wealth exceeds a threshold value. Risky investments in equity and nominal bonds are initially proportional to the excess of wealth over a lower bound, and then increase nonlinearly with wealth. The desirability of investing in the risky assets are related to the agent’s risk preference, the equity premium, and the inflation risk premium. The demand for index bonds is also obtained. The results should be useful for the management of defined benefit pension funds, university endowments, and other portfolios which have a withdrawal pre-commitment in real terms.

Applicant Reference Guide For Individuals Filing For Unemployment Insurance Benefits

This guide gives important information about how to receive unemployment benefits. Topics include: Privacy Act, Equal Opportunity Statement, Income and Eligibility Verification Notice, Unemployment Insurance Benefits, Eligibility requirements, Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees, Employment Compensation for Ex-Servicemembers,School Worker Claims, Pension Reduction, Official Court Appearances and Benefit eligibility, Benefits are Based on Wages Paid, Initial Determination, Benefit Year, Waiting Period, Maximum Weekly Benefit Amount, To Establish a Weekly Benefit Amount, Disqualification, Fraudulent claims, Requests for Reconsideration, Appeal Provisions, Standard and Alternate Base Period Explained, Partial Employment,Self-Employment, Students, Interstate Benefits, Benefits Will Be Taxable, Individual Benefits, Filing Your Weekly Claim, Filing Your Weekly Claim Online,Filing Your Weekly Claim by TelClaim and New Hires.

A comunicação da ASF com os colaboradores e com a comunidade em geral

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo principal analisar a comunicação da ASF com os colaboradores e com a comunidade em geral. Para tal, identificaram-se ferramentas e ações na comunicação dirigida ao público interno e ao público em geral e, por fim, apresentaram-se campanhas e ações de comunicação. A ASF tem por missão assegurar o bom funcionamento do mercado segurador e dos fundos de pensões em Portugal, por forma a contribuir para a garantia da proteção dos tomadores de seguros, pessoas seguras, participantes e beneficiários. A falta de notoriedade, credibilidade e compreensão das funções desta entidade junto da comunidade em geral, nomeadamente dos consumidores, são os principais pontos fracos da sua estratégia de comunicação. Posto isto, criaram-se ações específicas para o público interno que, naturalmente, tiveram implicações diretas no público externo, e permitiram alcançar objetivos da ASF. Foram desenvolvidas atividades na revista de imprensa, nas plataformas de apoio à gestão, monotorização e análise dos dados media e da intranet, edição de materiais e organização de eventos, nomeadamente o aniversário da ASF. Também se participou no PNFF (Plano Nacional de Formação Financeira) e no processo da mudança da designação ISP (Instituto de Seguros de Portugal) para ASF (Autoridade de Supervisão de Seguros e Fundos de Pensões) o que possibilitou à equipa de comunicação desenvolver novas e melhores estratégias. Por fim, considerou-se ainda que a ASF deveria implementar uma estratégia em que a imagem de qualidade do seu trabalho fosse do conhecimento público, ou seja, deverá primeiro ganhar notoriedade e depois desenvolver as associações pretendidas para a imagem que quer criar junto do público. A aproximação a escolas e aos jovens poderá ser uma forma interessante para atingir os objetivos da ASF, essencialmente junto do público externo; Abstract: The chief goal of the present thesis is to analyses the communication of the Insurance Supervisory Authority and Pension Fund (ASF) towards its collaborators and the community, in general. In order to achieve this purpose, the thesis identified the tools and actions of the communication developed for the internal public and the community, then, it identifies specific actionist presents specific actions of communication. ASF aims to ensure the proper functioning of insurance market and pension funds in Portugal, in order to contribute towards ensuring policyholders protection, insured persons, participants and beneficiaries. Under the new strategy implementation on behalf of insurance and pension funds consumers a form of communication was developed focused on promoting consumers understanding about the running of this sector. Specific actions for internal public were intensified, which, of course, have had direct implications on external public, largely achieving the ASF objectives. The main weaknesses of this entity’s communication strategy are the lack of notoriety, credibility and understanding of the functions. Activities have been developed within the management of the press review events, such as ASF’birthday. The participation in PNFF and the process of change to the new designation enabled the communication team to develop communication strategies. Concerning the analysis of ASF’s communication strategy, it is suggested that the company should implement a strategy in which the quality of its work is of public knowledge. This means that, first, it should gain notoriety and, then, it should develop associations between the brand and the public.