Exchanging patient-specific information across heterogeneous information systems is a critical but increasingly complex and expensive challenge. Lacking a universal unique identifier for healthcare, patient records must be linked using combinations of identity attributes such as name, date of birth, and sex. A state's birth certificate registry…

The process of "knowledge adoption" is defined as the means through which policy-makers digest, accept then "take on board" research findings. It is argued in Brown, however, that current models designed to explain knowledge adoption activity fail to fully account for the complexities that affect its operation. Within this…

Financial issues regarding the sustainable production, dissemination, and use of Open Educational Resources (OER) in higher education are reviewed and proposed solutions critiqued. Use of OER produce demonstrable cost savings for students. Yet OER development continues to rely almost completely on government and philanthropic funding. This…

Examines the increasingly commercial aspects of adoption services. Discusses adoption as a legal service, a social service, and a service business, noting the conflicting cultural values within and between these models. (HTH)

Examines several possible models of public policy diffusion, then presents and illustrates the use of a technique for identifying clusters of similar policies on the bases of their diffusion patterns. Available from: American Political Science Association, 1527 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20036; $10.50 single copy. (JG)

Germany's Dual System, which consists of in-school and in-enterprise components, facilitates entry into 374 recognized technical, white-collar and blue-collar occupations listed in training regulations that are grounded in legislation. The Dual System's origins and development in Germany were examined along with several attempts to replicate the…