Skilled Persons Research Articles

Brain drain: the flight of human capital.

The international migration of highly skilled professionals first emerged as a major public health issue in the 1940s, when many European health professionals emigrated to the United Kingdom and the United States. By the mid-1960s, the losses were enough to cause concern. In 1979, WHO published a detailed 40-country study on the magnitude and flow of health professionals, whose findings suggested that close to 90% of all migrating physicians were moving to just five countries: Australia, Canada, the Federal Republic of Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States (1). In recent years, the migration of health workers has become a prominent and controversial feature of health sector planning. A moral challenge There is growing recognition, in both developed and developing countries, of the dangers posed by indiscriminate recruitment of skilled health professionals. Despite the awareness of the risks, little effort has been made to solve the problem. Regardless of one's point of view in the debate, the fundamental issue is the same: should skilled migration be left completely to market forces or should some form of intervention be introduced? If so, what are the possible options? Intuitively, the indiscriminate poaching of skilled health professionals is unlikely to be a neutral phenomenon. It is potentially damaging to the effective delivery of health services in the source country, where it constitutes a huge financial loss and could have a negative impact on the economy. Indeed, the likelihood that poor developing countries may be indirectly subsidizing the health-care systems of richer countries raises ethical and moral questions. Fortunately, however, some developed countries are beginning to acknowledge the potentially harmful effects of their recruitment practices. The United Kingdom is a case in point: in 2001 the Department of Health initiated the Code of practice far NHS employers involved in the international recruitment of healthcare professionals. In 2003 the Commonwealth adopted a non-binding code of practice to guide ethical recruitment from member countries. Despite these positive developments, many countries remain largely indifferent. Some, like Germany, are currently developing aggressive immigration policies targeted specifically at "the best minds" among professionals from the developing countries (2). A manpower strategy that is based on indiscriminate poaching of skilled human resources is rather shortsighted, however, and can only be a temporary solution. Its long-term consequences for the health and overall well-being of the affected populations may extend well beyond health to other sectors of the economy. To escape hardship, many skilled and unskilled persons may be forced to emigrate, and their destinations will almost certainly be in the industrialized countries. Such developments can only exacerbate the problems of illegal migration into many western countries. Consequently, more draconian measures will be needed to stem future waves of desperate refugees. Hence, merely for purely selfish reasons, the developed countries cannot afford to be spectators in the unfolding drama. Solutions Is there an inexpensive way to discourage richer countries from poaching scientists from poorer ones? Unfortunately not--the issues involved are complex and almost all countries are affected to varying degrees. At one end of the spectrum are countries such as Cuba that produce an excess of health professionals; at the other end are those such as the United States that train too few. In between is a variety of sending and receiving countries, each with a pattern of migration that reflects its level of social, political and economic development. Consequently, focusing solely on the "pull" factors that attract migrants may obscure the importance of the "push" factors encouraging them to leave, thereby diverting attention away from some important policy options. …

Evaluation of CPT values determined by ASTM G48 practice. Report on round robin tests of the Corrosion Committee of the Austrian Society of Metallurgy

A round robin test for determination of critical pitting temperature (CPT) according to ASTM G48 produced unsatisfactory repeatability and reproducibility of results in agreement with literature. Investigations on experimental procedure, identification of pits and gravimetric evaluation of samples have been performed to identify crucial parameters for improvement of results. Several recommendations within ASTM G48 practice are proposed such as wet grinding of specimens, cold drying of specimens, additional gravimetric evaluation and optical evaluation only by skilled persons. A further suggestion is a finer ground surface of samples. In order to confer statistical reference to CPT values an evaluation of medians with 50% probability of pitting is proposed.

PRESENT STATUS AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE LYNX IN THE GERMAN ALPS

The period I995 to 1999 did not yield any confirmed lynx data in the German part of the Alpine Arc. Only from the area of Berchtesgaden, 6 Q3-data exist. Outside of the Alpine arc Germany hosts some areas with lynx evidence. For a better understanding of the real situation in the Alps it would be necessary to have a few skilled persons who could check any lynx signs quickly and/or interview people that suspect lynx presence. Because of possible lynx immigrations, especially from eastern Switzerland, and its central location, it would be important that Germany starts to play a more active role in lynx conservation in the Alps. Conservation strategies and possible actions need to be assessed in the near future.

Automation of Deburring and Finishing Works by Robot. Knowledge Data Compilation of Deburring and Finishing Methods.

The automation of removing and finishing work of burrs occurring in materials in the casting process does not necessarily advance since this work has been conducted, dependent upon the manual operation of a skilled person. However, the demands for automation of removing and finishing work of burrs have greatly increased in recent years due to the aging of skilled persons and the tendency to shun this work. Thus, the robot as a substitute for a skilled person has been actively introduced to automate this work, however it does not lead to the perfect solution of the problem of deburring and finishing automation. This is due to the fact that they are not systematically run but individually. Therefore, this study aims at building an ideal automation system of deburring and finishing work by use of industrial robots. At the first step, it is intended to construct a knowledge database to support an expert system so that the robots can automatically complete a variety of deburring and finishing tasks without any support from a skilled person. As a result, it was possible to arrange the deburring and finishing technologies by robots and to systemize them as a knowledge database.

Introduction and Overview: The Education of African American Students: The Struggle Continues

Introduction and Overview In the past 50 years, tremendous strides have been made in educating individuals with exceptionalities. Much of this progress would not have been possible without the landmark decision of Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Separate but equal schools for Whites and Blacks had been the legal tradition of the South and the defacto practice of the North, prior to 1954. Brown has had a profound effect on where and how children in America are educated. This Supreme Court case declared the practice of segregated schools unconstitutional. Since the Brown decision, there have been subsequent court decisions and laws enacted to protect the rights of all children, including those with disabilities, to an appropriate and free public education (Individual with Disabilities Act, 1974/1997). The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) has enabled millions of American children with disabilities (previously excluded from schools) to receive a free public education. Today, millions of children with disabilities not only attend their community schools, but significant numbers are being educated in classrooms with their nondisabled peers. Families of children with disabilities also have been given more authority to actively participate in their children's education. Further, society has benefited from the inclusion of many skilled persons with disabilities, who are now a contributing part of the workforce (Heward, 2000). These remarkable advances should be celebrated, but they are only part of the story. Despite the important improvements in the educational opportunities for African American children and children with exceptionalities, all is not well, especially for poor urban African American children (Gardner & Talbert-Johnson, 2001). Segregated schools have been ruled illegal for almost 50 years, yet the school experiences for African Americans often differ dramatically from their European American peers. African American students are more likely to be placed in classes for persons that are mildly mentally retarded (MMR) or have serious emotional disturbances (SED), and less likely to be placed in gifted education classes than are European American students. These issues are compounded by a dwindling number of African American educators, who have traditionally played an important role in creating a positive learning environment for African American students. The diminishing number of African American educators may have a direct impact on the sensitivity of the school climate to African American children. The reality is that an unequal education process continues in America, despite legal and moral mandates. This series of articles highlights some of the issues that plague the education community, particularly in regard to African American children and their families. Not only are issues raised, but solutions to the various concerns are promoted. Cartledge, Sentelle, Loe, Lambert, and Reed describe an inner-city classroom for gifted students who were experiencing high levels of defiant and other inappropriate behaviors. Far too often, gifted African American children are overlooked and their educational needs are not met (Ford, 1996). The authors describe interventions that were successful in creating a positive academic environment, while decreasing inappropriate behaviors. …

Network Approach versus Brain Drain: Lessons from the Diaspora

For the past two decades, network approaches have led to many conceptual and empirical developments in the studies of international migration as well as of technological innovation. However, surprisingly, such approaches have hardly been used for the study of what is at the intersection of both fields, namely the mobility of highly skilled persons or knowledge workers.This article draws on recent evidence brought by case studies on intellectual diaspora networks to bridge this gap and to explore the issue. These highly skilled expatriate networks, through a connectionist approach linking diaspora members with their countries of origin, turn the brain drain into a brain gain approach. These persons and groups also provide original information that questions conventional human capital based assumptions.The article argues that descriptions in terms of network open interesting perspectives for the understanding as well as management of the current global skills’ circulation. The network approach under consideration combines input from migration as well as from innovation studies. This suggests an expanded version of the network approach, referring to actors and intermediaries, of which traditional kinship ties are but a part of more systematic associative dynamics actually at work.

Autonomous Driving on Vehicle Test Tracks: Overview, Implementation and First Results

Abstract This paper presents the implementation of the co-operative project “Autonomous Driving” which had been set up for the automation of vehicle test drives on the Volkswagen proving ground. The components of the vehicle, its operating principle and some first test results will be focused here. An overview as well as a description of the motivation and concept were already given in an earlier paper [7]. As part of the concept, ordinary cars can be transformed into automatically driven cars within a few hours by skilled persons. Within the project, two test vehicles were equipped with sensors, computers and actuators (driving robots). The vehicles can be driven by a robot while the sensor system observes the entire surroundings in order to be able to avoid obstacles. Vehicle guidance is controlled by satellite navigation (DGPS) as well as visual lane detection. Furthermore, the vehicle control can be overruled by an electronic copilot in case of an emergency. First evaluation results from driving tests by satellite navigation control and visual lane detection control in a special proving ground environment will be presented as a video demonstration.

Occupationally induced hydrofluoric acid burns: an analysis of 9 patients from the aspect of occupational health

We report here 9 patients suffering from hydrofluoric acid burn who visited our clinic from July, 1979 to February, 2000. These 9 cases occupied 25% of all chemical burn cases experienced in our clinic. All the patients were men ranging in age from 20 to 53 (mean age 35 years; average 36.8 years). At the time of accidental exposures, 6 patients had been engaged in washing or cleaning work, and 2 had been changing the parts of instruments containing hydrofluoric acid. Eight patients received burns on the hands and/or fingers. During the work, 2 patients had used vinyl chloride or rubber gloves, but three patients employed no protection for the hands. After the symptoms began to develop, it was found that the glove of one patient had a pin hole. Coupled with the occasions described in previous reports, the causal factors of hydrofluoric acid burn could be divided as follows: 1) negligence or carelessness of workers, in particular skilled persons, in handling hydrofluoric acid, 2) ignorance of the dangerousness of hydrofluoric acid, 3) the presence of pin hole (s) in protection gloves, and 4) unexpected accident. Hydrofluoric acid is one of the most corrosive inorganic acids, and can produce progressive and serious tissue necrosis with severe pain. To prevent burns due to this chemical, enlightenment and reeducation of the workers regarding the hazard of hydrofluoric acid are necessary.

Highly skilled globetrotters: mapping the international migration of human capital

In the final years of the twentieth century, brain drain, skills shortages and lack of career opportunities have become issues of major concern for policy‐makers concerned with R&D in government, academia, and industry. Labour mobility across political borders, especially among highly skilled labour, provides a solution for the aforementioned concerns to some actors, but engenders problems to others. Drawing on various empirical investigations and on previous studies, this paper attempts to provide a mapping of the various types of human resources mobility across national borders. It argues that various groups of highly skilled persons are driven by different push and pull factors. In addition to immigration legislation, other factors, such as taxation, studying abroad, quality of work, openness in communication, business expansion overseas, labour market supply and demand signals, etc. play important role in the choice of highly skilled migrants to relocate overseas.

To Ghetto or Not to Ghetto: Ethnicity and Residential Segregation

This paper analyzes the link between ethnicity and the choice of residing in ethnically segregated neighborhoods. Data drawn from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth show that there exist strong human capital externalities both within and across ethnic groups. As a result, the segregation choices made by particular households depend both on the household's economic opportunities and on aggregate characteristics of the ethnic groups. The evidence suggests that highly skilled persons who belong to disadvantaged groups have lower probabilities of ethnic residential segregation—relative to the choices made by the most skilled persons in the most skilled groups.

Blood Bank Information Systems

Blood banking involves many sophisticated analyses that, without automation and computerization, can be performed only by highly skilled persons. The human ability to “look for things” is more flexible than the computer’s, but the ability to flexibly and intelligently search for and analyze information starts to break down as the quantity of information becomes larger. Computers, however, can handle vast amounts of information without suffering any deleterious effects.

Changing population policies and women's lives in Malaysia

Malaysias population policy established in 1984 aimed to slow the decline in the fertility rate to .1 point every 5 years from the current decline of .3 or .4 points every 5 years. The aim was to achieve a stable population of 70 million by the year 2100 instead of the projection of 39 million by the year 2150. The perceived social and economic implications of this policy were considered but the impact on women was not. Earlier policies have focused on the health of women and the need for family planning (FP) but the new objective was to spur economic growth through a larger number of quality human resources. This article examines the public response to the policy the impact on FP programs the impact on women and womens fertility the role of donor agencies women-centered policies and programs and an action agenda for womens organizations. From academic circles the response was to question the viability of increasing population when already there was insufficient infrastructure and services. In 1990 34% of rural areas still did not have safe water and 10% had no electricity. The current Deputy Minister Fong had previously expressed the concern that work force needs did not demand large numbers but rather highly skilled persons were needed. Few of these concerns were expressed in the media. Chinese and Indians thought the policy was an attempt to increase the Malay numbers. The Malays saw it as a call to strengthen their race and religion. The FP Board set new targets for acceptors. Abortions were not as easily obtained. Reports surfaced of FP clinics refusing to give pills or IUDs to women with few children. Actual fertility declined from 3.9 to 1980 to 3.3 in 1990 and varied by region and ethnic group. Malay fertility increased from 4.5 in 1989 to 4.8 in 1985 and then began to decline in the late 1980s. A survey found 59% of women favored the policy of which 75% were Malays. There was some decline in donor support. The maternal mortality rate was unaffected. Women apparently want fertility limitation. Womens groups were more active in reflecting their concerns around 1984 than at present but women activists are still a new phenomena. There is need for womens groups to link up with other national and international womens health networks.

A scoring system for basic cardiac life support skills in training situations.

A valid and reproducible system for determining basic cardiac life support (BCLS) skills can help to evaluate the effect of instruction courses and to estimate the results of educational activities. The aim of this study was to develop and test such a system in accordance with the Standards and Guidelines of the American Heart Association (AHA). Five criteria were defined in advance towards such a system (1) Inadequate techniques must be reflected by a fail score. (2) Skilled persons should achieve a pass score. (3) The effect of training must be reflected by an improvement of the score. (4) Inter- and intra-observer variability must be negligible. (5) The system should be simple to apply. The system was developed, and in order to test the system, the BCLS skills of 40 ambulance nurses were tested once and those of 148 lay people twice. All cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) attempts were performed on a mannequin. The relevant parameters of the attempt were continuously recorded and printed. Penalty points were assigned in a predefined way for aberrations of the techniques advised in the Standards and Guidelines. The system satisfied the five criteria mentioned above. It therefore offers a reliable and reproducible evaluation of BCLS skills.

Qualified Manpower in Engineering

This article examines the numbers of skilled persons in engineering and allied occupations who qualify each year throughout the skill range—from an engineering doctorate to craftsmen and technicians—and compares Britain with other advanced industrial countries. The main quantitative difference between Britain and other countries lies in the numbers qualifying at the level of qualified craftsman; attention is also drawn to an important qualitative difference in practical content and length of university-degree courses in engineering.

Migrations des travailleurs qualifiés britanniques sous contrat au Moyen-Orient

An evaluation of a survey of British skilled labour migrants to the Middle East. A.M. FINDLAY and A. STEWART The Middle East became the second most important foreign destination for British emigration during the 1970s. Most emigrants were highly skilled persons, working either on lucrative short term contracts for Arab companies or governments or moving as career migrants within international organizations. The study explores the reasons for and consequences of this migration stream. Changes in Arab labour markets have precipitated considerable return migration of these skilled workers, many of whom have difficulty in reintegrating in the British economy. Consequently many of these skilled workers are once again seeking overseas employment, earning themselves the title of « new nomads ». The article explores several alternative explanatory frameworks within which this movement can be studied.

The inverse tool principle

ECTJ, VOL. 33, NO. 1, PAGES 51-57 ISSN 0148-5806 If theory, research, and practice in instructional technology should spring from technological thinking rather than from the knowledge base in education as Heinich (1984) asserts, instructional technologists will need to reexamine many closely held ideas. While some of the ideas will grow out of contemporary science, others will emerge from age-old questions. This article focuses on one age-old issue-the most appropriate relationship of tool and tool user. In the marketplace, the relationship is simple. The worker should have the use of the most sophisticated tools the budget can afford since sophisticated tools (in the hands of a sophisticated worker) increase productivity. Little has been done to analyze this issue in the context of learning. Instead, scarce resources in education have probably caused instructional designers to avoid any analysis of the appropriate relationship between tools and their users. If a technological society requires more knowledgeable and skilled young persons to fill more demanding adult roles, tool use will be central to the learning process. Thus, instructional technologists/designers will need to examine the toolluser relationship and communicate the results of that examination to those who make economic decisions about schooling.

A comparison of data produced by different behavioral assessment techniques with implications for models of social-skills inadequacy∗

Fifty undergraduates participated in four behavioral assessment techniques (role-playing, interviews, questionnaires and self-ratings) in each of three heterosocial situations (relationship initiation, maintenance and termination). Assessment techniques in which the Ss evaluated themselves (questionnaires and self-ratings) produced significantly poorer ratings of social skills than assessment techniques in which experimenters evaluated the Ss (interviews and role-playing). Ratings differed not only by assessment techniques, but also by social situation. The differences between self- and other-evaluations was not due to the skill level of the Ss, medium of observation or to different external standards. The implications are discussed for choices of assessment techniques in clinical practice and in research. A second portion of this study lent support to the social-skills deficit and physical attractiveness models of social inadequacy. Socially-unskilled Ss tended to be less attractive than their skilled counterparts. They were not able to improve their role-playing performance in any notable manner, even when instructed to do so, although they accurately evaluated the social skills of others and did not evaluate their own skills more negatively than did more skilled persons.

The migration policy of developed Socialist society: problems of improvement.

In the USSR the need for migration policy stems from objective processes in the development of socialist production and from its constant structural and territorial modifications, which are particularly palpable under current conditions, at a time when vast new regions are undergoing intensive development. Migration policy, to play the part of an effective instrument for exerting a purposeful influence on migration processes, must be stable in its basic directions and relatively flexible when it is necessary to react quickly to changes in various relatively local circumstances. The determination of criteria of optimization of migration processes is of paramount significance for the solution of problems of migration policy. The improvement of migration policy under the conditions of developed socialism must be based on the known patterns of reproduction of the population. At the same time it is necessary to consider the fact that the migration of the population proper can be considered as the source of regional differences in this reproduction and simultaneously is their consequence to a considerable degree. Consequently, 1 of the approaches to the elaboration of migration policy measures is oriented toward the equalization of conditions of population reproduction at the settlement and regional level. Many investigators of the problem of retaining youth in the countryside and of attracting skilled persons to rural areas believe the optimization of the productive and nonproductive spheres of activity to be the solution. Migration policy is implemented at 3 levels: the population as a whole; the collective; and the individual. Migration policy measures are divided according to the nature of their impact on the population into economic, moral, and administrative categories with the leading role assigned to economic measures. Among the economic measures that stimulate migration, a leading role is played by cash payments in the form of wage increases and one time grants. Recognizing the role of distribution on the basis of labor in the regulation of the migratory mobility of the population, the general direction of improvement of migration policy consists in the further raising of the role of consumption funds and particularly the fund for the joint satisfaction of requirements. The superiority of social consumption funds over wages in attracting and retaining the population stems particularly from the fact that the consumption of goods and services available free of charge or for a reduced charge occurs only at the place where they are offered. Ecomonic measures of migration policy must consider the fact that work incentives have recently included creative stimuli associated with the character, content, and conditions of work.

International Migration Policies in Latin America

This paper examines international migration policies in Latin America in the context of the two major flows currently taking place: labor migrations of unskilled workers between bordering countries which are characterized by unequal levels of development; and the migration of highly skilled persons, both to (European skilled immigrants) and from (brain drain to industrialized countries) the region. There are major gaps in policy formulations on the labor migrations of unskilled workers in spite of the size of the movements and the human and national interest involved. On the migration of skilled personnel, Latin American governments have tried some policies but, unfortunately, these have not been successful.

Relationships of stroke rate, distance per stroke, and velocity in competitive swimming

Competitive swimmers were asked to swim at a constant velocity (v) for short distances. They wore a collar to which was attached a fine non-elastic steel wire. The wire passed over two wheels of a device attached to one end of the pool. One wheel generated an impulse for every cm of forward movement and another wheel produced an electrical signal which was directly proportional to V. Measurements of distance and time were begun at definable points in the stroke cycle and were discontinued at the end of a predetermined number of strokes. In all of the four competitive strokes, front and back crawl, butterfly, and breaststroke, the V increased as a result of increasing the stroke rate (S) and decreasing the distance per stroke (d/s). In the front crawl, the male and female swimmers who achieved the fastest V had the longest d/S at slow S. The faster male swimmers also had greater percent decrease of the d/S at their maximal V than did the less skilled persons. The back crawl was similar to the front crawl except that maximal S and V were less. Increases of V of the butterfly were related almost entirely to increases in S. Except at the highest V, d/S was decreased somewhat. In the breaststroke increased V was also associated with increasing S, but the d/S decreased much more than in the other stroke styles. Fluctuations of velocity during the stroke cycle were least in the front and back crawl (+/- 15--20%) and greatest in the butterfly and breaststroke (+ 45--50%). The results were compared to the S observed and the values for V and d/S calculated for a large group of swimmers competing in the 1976 U.S. Olympic Trials. The implications of the findings for coaching swimmers are discussed.