Derive Policy Recommendations Research Articles

Evolution of the Linux Credits file: Methodological challenges and reference data for Open Source research (originally published in Volume 9, Number 6, June 2004)

This paper presents time–series data that can be extracted from the Linux Credits files and discusses methodological challenges of automatic extraction of research data from open source files. The extracted data is used to describe the geographical expansion of the core Linux developer community. The paper also comments on attempts to use the Linux Credits data to derive policy recommendations for open source software.

Evolution of the Linux Credits file: Methodological challenges and reference data for Open Source research

This paper presents time–series data that can be extracted from the Linux Credits files and discusses methodological challenges of automatic extraction of research data from open source files. The extracted data is used to describe the geographical expansion of the core Linux developer community. The paper also comments on attempts to use the Linux Credits data to derive policy recommendations for open source software.

Finanzsysteme in Europa: Harmonisieren? Anglifizieren?

Abstract Within the international competition of financial systems, Europe faces the question of whether to harmonize regulations towards a bank-oriented or a market-oriented financial system. Except the United Kingdom, all European countries have bank-based financial systems, however with large differences. In order to derive policy recommendations, we review the theoretical literature on welfare effects of financial systems. Neither the theory nor the empirical evidence indicates that one system is superior to the other in all respects. Hence, competition between financial systems should be recommended. However, global competition may induce an anglification of European bank-oriented systems towards the market-oriented system, which may not always be advantageous.

Recognition of good university teaching: Policies from an Australian study

ABSTRACT Pressures to improve the quality of university education have led to more attention being paid to ways of recognising and rewarding good teaching. Exploration of academic staff opinions about the value accorded to teaching and research by their institutions invariably shows that they think research is appropriately valued, while teaching is undervalued. This article describes results from a national investigation of universities' processes for rewarding good teaching and staff opinions about methods for giving more recognition to teaching. The information is used to derive policy recommendations for UK, US, and cognate systems of higher education which would lead to greater valuing of the teaching component of academic work. Successful schemes will require visionary leadership. They will build on existing academic values and expectations, combining changes to organisational climates with changes to reward systems and employment practices.

Foreign Medical Graduates and Their Impact on the Quality of Medical Care in the United States

The literature on the level of quality of care delivered by foreign medical graduates (FMGs) has been reviewed in order to derive policy recommendations concerning their use in the United States. This review revealed a paucity in information on direct measures of the level of quality of care provided by FMGs. Differences between U.S. medical graduates (USMGs) and FMGs, especially with regard to the less than fully licensed FMGs and those FMGs at the start of graduate training, were found on examining proxy measures of quality, such as achievement of standard professional credentials or the quality of clinical training. Given this lack of evidence as to differences in performance between FMGs and USMGs, it is difficult to formulate recommendations, but four are advanced. These include (1) acknowledgment of the crucial significance of their heterogeneity, especially in regard to the quality of care provided, (2) assurance of the principle that peer-review activities are administered even-handedly to FMGs and USMGs alike, (3) improvement of the medical care capabilities of the less able provider, and (4) performance of quality of care studies, in both hospital and office practice settings, which compare FMGs with USMGs, not to ideal standards.