Perceiving others as different: a discussion on the stigmatization of the mentally ill

This commentary on the stigmatization of people with mental illness explores social perceptions of them as dangerous and uncivilized. The authors discuss how the legal system suggests that these are people who should be ousted from the community while mental health professionals attempt to reiterate the fact that these individuals are simply human. The authors describe ways people with mental illness have been subjected to discrimination, ridicule, and humiliation. This commentary discusses multiple perspectives of mental illness, from past to present, and how those perspectives influenced social, legal, and psychological frameworks.     

Will working from home become the ‘new normal’ in the public sector?

The COVID-19 pandemic compelled large sections of the workforce out of their workplaces and into their homes to work. Many commentators suggest this has forever changed how and where we work. This article analyses how Australia's biggest employers – state and federal governments – approached the transitions to working from home, and back into regular workplaces. It considers the timing of policy responses to the pandemic as one indicator of resistance to, or acceptance of, widespread working from home. The article also demonstrates previous resistance to working from home for public servants, and questions widespread conjecture that it will become the ‘new normal’.     

Nail-gun injuries. Accident, homicide, or suicide?

It may be difficult to distinguish industrial accidents from suicide attempts or even assaults or homicide. Nail guns are relatively new industrial tools that can produce severe or fatal injuries. The configuration of the nail on patients' radiographs after such injuries can be helpful in determining the cause of injury. Steel nails that are bent are due to a ricochet and thus indicate accidental injury. Straight-nail injuries to the co-workers of nail-gun users are most likely due to over-penetration of the substance being nailed or accidental mid-air firing; however, intentional injury cannot be ruled out. Extremity injuries caused by straight steel nails in nail gun users are the result of carelessness or poor technique, but suicide should be considered when straight nails cause wounds to the chest, head, or abdomen.     

Real Estate Markets Are Informationally Efficient: Evidence from Buyer and Agent/Broker Surveys

This article presents new evidence based on unpublished buyer surveys and real estate agent and broker surveys supporting the consensus in the published literature that real estate markets are informationally efficient. This evidence is drawn from expert reports submitted in litigation involving claims that contamination caused property value diminution, and presents a new hedonic regression model of residential sales prices that includes as an independent variable the state of knowledge of the buyer regarding a contamination event. In this model the state of knowledge of the buyer has no statistically significant effect on the sales price. The article also discusses standards for the use of buyer and agent/broker surveys in litigation.     

More reform in New Brunswick: rural municipalities?

Abstract. Local government in New Brunswick has experienced many changes during the last ten years. The major reforms implemented in 1967 (following the recommendations of the Byrne Commission) included the abolition of rural county government. As a result, approximately 250,000 of New Brunswick's residents were left without any local government structure. The lack of rural local government did not appear to be a major issue until recently. As of late, however, there has been increasing criticism on two fronts. First, residents of the non-incorporated areas have been voicing their discontent over the fact that they do not have elected local government. Secondly, the residents of the incorporated municipalities have complained that the non-incorporated areas were not being taxed enough and that they were benefiting from the facilities of the incorporated municipal units without paying their fair share of the costs (in essence, a free-rider problem). The result of such criticisms was the creation (in 1975) of the Task Force on Non-Incorporated Areas in New Brunswick, which recommended a new system of rural municipalities to be applied to all present non-incorporated areas of the province. While as yet legislation has not been introduced, the report of the Task Force has stirred up considerable debate. Sommaire. Le gouvernement local, au Nouveau-Brunswick, a subi de nombreux changements au cours des dix dernières années. Les principales réformes, effectuées en 1967 (à la suite des recommandations de la Commission Byrne), comportaient, entre autres, l'abolition des gouvernement des comtés ruraux, ce qui laissa quelque 250,000 résidents du Nouveau-Brunswick sans aucune structure gouvernementale locale. Ce manque de gouvernement rural local ne semble présenter de problème majeur que depuis peu. Maintenant, toutefois, les critiques se multiplient sur deux fronts. Tout d'abord, les résidents des regions non incorporées ont manifesté leur mécontentement de ne pas avoir de gouvernement local élu. Deuxièmement, les residents des municipalités incorporées se sont plaints de ce que les régions non incorporées ne soient pas suffisamment imposées et qu'elles profitent des installations des municipalités incorporées sans payer leur juste part des coǔts (essentiellement le problème des profiteurs). Ces critiques ont entraǐné la creation (en 1975) d'un groupe d'experts chargés d'érudier les régions non incorporées du Nouveau-Brunswick. Ce groupe recommenda un nouveau système de municipalités rurales, à appliquer à toutes les municipalités non incorporées à l'heure actuelle au Nouveau-Brunswick. Aucune législation n'a encore été adoptee, mais le rapport du groupe d'experts a suscité toutes sortes de débats.     

Review Essay

Energy, Economics, and the Environment: Toward a Comprehensive Perspective, edited by Gregory A. Daneke. Lexington, Mass.: D.C. Heath, 1982.

Nuclear Power: Both Sides. The Best Arguments For and Against the Most Controversial Technology, edited by Michio Kaku and Jennifer Trainer. New York: W. W. Norton, 1982.     

Stewardship and health systems strengthening: An overview

The World Health Organization (WHO) introduced the concept of stewardship to clarify the practical components of governance in the health sector. For the WHO, stewardship concentrated on how government actors take responsibility for the health system and the wellbeing of the population, fulfill health system functions, assure equity, and coordinate interaction with government and society. This article overviews the contents of this special issue, which offers examples of how health stewards in a variety of countries have addressed issues of health security, primary care expansion, family planning, and quality of care. The contributors' articles draw lessons for policy, programs, and management useful for practitioners and scholars. Our overview identifies several themes emerging from the articles: the foundational role of legal frameworks for effective stewardship, the importance of institutional arrangements as enablers, the influence of regional and global entities on national stewardship, the connection between credible decision‐making structures and stewardship, and pathways to sustainable financing and domestic resource mobilization. The discussion concludes with highlighting several gaps in knowledge and practice related to health stewardship.     

‘I'm going to get a job at the factory’: attitudes to women's employment in a mining community, 1945-65

This article examines how couples in mining households managed the increasing opportunities for women to work outside of the home in the period following the Second World War. Households in mining communities have regularly been characterised in research literature as operating strictly segregated gender roles and the lack of employment opportunities in mining areas appears to have accentuated the rigid division of labour. However, in some areas where the mining industry was in decline, new employment opportunities for married women increased, which inevitably placed a strain on the male provider model. This article explores these issues in relation to the ironstone mining district of East Cleveland and uses data generated from thirty-three semi-structured interviews. It will be argued that whilst the separation of the male provider and female homemaker role remained the ideal for many couples, others chose to avail themselves of the economic and psychological benefits of female employment. However, even amongst those couples where the women did undertake paid employment, the image of the male as provider was still preserved by the use of various strategies.