1,721,056 research outputs found
Starting a Judicial Review to Contest a Welfare Decision
No full textCritical analysis of strengths and weaknesses of judicial review as a means of contesting adverse decisions, including community care claims across a range of support systems. Highlights difficulties that arise from within the system itself, including short time limit period, the need to demonstrate a sufficient interest in the matter complained of, and wider issues such as in adequate representation in what is a specialised area of Public Law
State Benefits and Tax Credits
No full textThis section of the work (H Section) deals with social security aspects of the Family Law regime, with a particular focus on State support for the family in different contexts including separation and divorce, and children's support. It also addresses aspects like residence and migration-related restrictions on access to support, for example in the case of family reunification. residence, and settlement in the UK. More generally, the publication provides a commentary on law, policy, and new developments as it affects married and unmarried partners and their children, including the consequences of marriage breakdown, such as care of children, distribution of assets, and associated problems with taxation, and social security. Its coverage of the law relating to children includes substantial sections on, inter alia, adoption, children's hearings, child support, and the inter-action of the child support system and maintenance with social security sources of support. As a loose-leaf work with periodic additions to coverage enables facilitates an up-to-date, authoritative coverage of the law and practice of Family Law and Social Welfare Law by leading specialists. New issues and updates are published four times a year
21st Century Welfare’ and Universal Credit: Reconstructing the Wage-Work-Welfare Bargain
No full textA previous article by the author (2012, 41(1) Industrial Law Journal 122) examined how successive governments since the mid-1990s have developed welfare-to-work programmes and provided support for low-paid workers after their transition to work. This article considers the way in which the State, having progressively taken on the roles of both regulator and purveyor of financial support for the wage-work bargain, is now set to move to newer forms of in-work welfare support, targeting assistance on a wider range of groups. The focus of the commentary is on what the author terms the 'wage-work-welfare bargain'. The article considers some of the controversies associated with State support for the labour market, including early objections by commentators like J.S.Mill (in 'Principles of Political Economy' - concerns reiterated again when a Conservative government pioneered modern 'in-work welfare' with schemes like Earnings Top-Up. The article goes on to consider recent developments, including Universal Credit (UC), the Coalition government’s flagship scheme under the Welfare Reform Act 2012 - a scheme which among other things supplements contractual wages with what is, in effect, a wage subsidy. The article considers how the scheme will merge most out-of-work and in-work benefits into a single, integrated source of support. As well as supplementing the wages of working claimants, it provides assistance with housing and childcare costs.
The commentary evaluates different aspects of the Coalition's approach to such in-work support.In particular, the commentary focuses on various strands of support including the developing agenda to 'make work pay' and modify schemes that provide housing, childcare, and other support - changes that have already started to impact on more vulnerable sections of the workforce including single parents and couples on low incomes in low paid employment.
In the context of forecasts by the Institute of Fiscal Studies and others that median incomes are set to fall by anything between 7% and 10% in real terms, with 'absolute' and 'relative' poverty set to rise, the article concludes that State support through in-work benefits,tax credits, and changes in the personal taxation regime will be increasingly important. However, as IFS has indicated, although measures like Universal Credit, coupled with improved tax allowances will be important in reducing the worst effects of falls in earnings and income, much of the gain from UC could be offset by a number of factors including the switch from RPI to CPI indexation of benefits and tax credits support
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Managing the Human Resource in a Difficult Business and Regulatory Environment: An Evaluation of Global Trends, Challenges and Risks. Note: The presentation included an outline research project proposal provisionally entitled A Family Friendly Flexible Work Scheme for Sri Lanka?
No full textThis was an invited paper given as a Guest Speaker at Staffordshire University's partner college, APIIT Sri Lanka, at their annual research conference on 7th July 2016. The conference title was Breaking Barriers - Interdisciplinary Research for Global Challenges). The programme and papers have been published in Breaking Barriers: Interdisciplinary Research for Global Challenges - The Proceedings of the Business, Law and Technology Conference 2016, Colombo: Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology, ISBN 978-955-7678-01-6, July 7th 2016. The paper is published in full in Section D Invited Papers, pp.126-137. After considering developments and trends affecting labour market conditions, and commenting on sources like the International Labour Organisation (ILO) 2016 World Employment and Social Outlook - the presentation considered the role being played by Law in both regional and national systems dealing with complex areas like information sharing, consultation and the employee voice, work-life balance, flexible family-friendly working, and discipline and dismissal. It was noted how, despite organisations like the ILO, EU, the G7, and ASEAN pressing for further and better interventions, standards, etc, and improved social protection floors, the trend in some countries (including many EU States) has, in fact, been towards less law, deregulation, and a reduced use of law as an instrument of regulatory power. In other countries, however, including South-East Asia States, traditional forms of regulation and enforcement of the State have been maintained. There is, however, a discernible trend towards using legislative instruments to identify the standards to be attained, but then leaving the precise means of securing attainment to industry and sectoral level initiatives. It was suggested that this may be the approach that could be taken by government and policy makers when designing new generation, innovative work-life balance schemes, factoring in prevailing labour market conditions and traditions.
The paper outlined a joint SU Law School-APIIT Law School project (2016-18) to evaluate possible regulatory models for a work-life balance and family-friendly flexible work scheme in Sri Lanka. The project is due to start by the end of 2016/start of 2017, and be undertaken by the paper's author with APIIT Law School colleagues, including Dr Kushanthi Harasgama, Marini de Livera, and Sanduni Jayasinghe. In the first phase, from September 2016-September 2017, working with key organisations like IPM Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan legal profession (notably labour lawyers), and academics, the focus will be on national systems' experience of flexible working. This is an important component in any organisation's policy to improve staff members' need for effective work-life balance. It is also a key area identified as a high priority for organisations in Sri Lanka (1). Initial research will include a literature review, and comparisons between UK, EU, Sri Lankan, and neighbouring South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) countries, including their Labour Law regimes and HR good practice standards. The UK, Sri Lanka, and India clearly share similar objectives in a number of key areas of labour market regulation (2). Proposed outputs include further conference papers, an update at the next APIIT annual conference in 2017, and a proposed article in the Asia Pacific Journal of Management (a 4* journal for REF 2020/21 purposes). The other guest speakers included the Attorney-General of Sri Lanka, Hon. Jayanthaa, President's Counsel, and Madu Ratnayake, Executive Vice-President, Vitusa Polaris, a former Chairman of the Sri Lanka Association of Software and Services Companies.
(1) See Keppetipola, M (2014) An Analysis of the Work-Life Balance of Sri Lankan Military Officers, People Power, IPM Sri Lanka, 2014 Vol 3-1, p.3. This sets out the current issues and challenges well, as described them in relation to Sri Lankan military officers, the advancement of their careers, and the benefits to be gained from effective schemes in performance and retention.
(2) Abeysuriya, I (2015) Is there a Better Way, People Power, IPM Sri Lanka, September 2015, 12-14
Research Informed Teaching: An Evaluation of the Use of Author-Lecturers’ Publications and their Publishers’ Web-Based Materials as a Teaching and Learning Resource
No full textThe paper described the three-year research informed teaching project being undertaken the presenters, and the issues it concerns. Law lecturers, as in other academic disciplines, research, write and publish, and then use their work as a resource in their teaching and learning programmes. The project is assessing the value of such publications as a teaching and learning resource, informed by the experiences and views of key stakeholders, particularly final year undergraduate and LLM students, author lecturers, and publishers.
A key part of the research scheme is an evaluation of the use of author lecturers’ published work when utilised or adapted for teaching and learning purposes, usually to provide additional web-based resources for students. These 'additional works' include 'virtual lawyer' teaching/learning packages, as well as systems that support lawyerly skills like legal research and drafting. As well as examining the take-up and use of such resources, the project is looking at assessment applications.
Among other things, the team is also interested in the use of on-line resources that can be adapted to enhance tutorial and workshop programmes, assisted by student-lecturer interactions and the provision of summative and formal feedback opportunities. Clearly these packages have the potential to assist skills development, for example when students work in teams, and engage in lawyer-client role play, presentations, and other activities based on case studies. Students’ work, and individuals’ contributions to small group work, using resources like this can be recorded by students using systems like PebblePad3. This can then inform additional support by lecturers while project work is being undertaken, or when providing feedback.
The team is evaluating such approaches in the context of widening use of such products, and a growing emphasis on formative and formal assessment of students’ research and research-related skills. What, though, are the advantages and possible downsides of such packages and approaches? To what extent do they enhance students’ learning experience, and provide added value to programmes?
The project is being assisted by lecturers from other universities who are working with us on this. It is also using the views of lawyers in practice, and employers in the legal profession, to assist the project’s work. The team’s paper will map on to several of this year’s ALT conference themes, particularly 'skills and training'
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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