Doing Good and Selling Goods

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - This paper explores a network of organizations and their perspectives on the social enterprise commodity. Based on...     

Rethinking the effectiveness of family planning in Africa

For the past 50 years there has been a near global consensus that the demands of development necessitate that couples reduce their fertility as a critical act which would jump start economic growth. This consensus heralded the era of the One Child policy and over 90% of least developed states continue to run programs which seek to induce lower fertility rates in their populations. However, a growing body of literature is questioning both the validity and utility of these interventions. This article seeks to contribute to the rethinking of family planning programs. Using new data on family planning scores from forty two African states this article shows that rates of fertility are unlikely to be affected by the strength of family planning programs at lower levels of development. However, at moderate levels of development, family planning programs may contribute to accelerating the decline in fertility initiated by exogenous factors. These findings offer a fresh perspective on the wide spread adoption of family planning policy that permeates the developing world.     

Bibliometric analysis of production planning and control (1990–2016)

Production Planning and Control (PPC) has been one of the primary publishing outlets for operations management research for nearly three decades. This paper presents bibliometric analysis of the journal from its inception through 2016. PPC was analysed from six different perspectives to provide reliable and in-depth information about the journal’s performance and development. The analysis considered the development of the journal itself, the countries of contributing authors, authors’ academic and practitioner organisation affiliations, the top publishing and most cited authors, the most cited articles, and finally the topics of published papers through analysis of titles, keywords and abstracts. It was found that the journal is considered an outlet for both practice and academic research, reflecting changes over time in the landscape of operations management.     

Media Disaster Reporting Effects on Public Risk Perception and Response to Escalating Tornado Warnings: A Natural Experiment

Previous research has evaluated public risk perception and response to a natural hazards in various settings; however, most of these studies were conducted either with a single scenario or after a natural disaster struck. To better understand the dynamic relationships among affect, risk perception, and behavioral intentions related to natural disasters, the current study implements a simulation scenario with escalating weather intensity, and includes a natural experiment allowing comparison of public response before and after a severe tornado event with extensive coverage by the national media. The current study also manipulated the display of warning information, and investigated whether the warning system display format influences public response. Results indicate that (1) affect, risk perception, and behavioral intention escalated as weather conditions deteriorated, (2) responses at previous stages predicted responses at subsequent stages of storm progression, and (3) negative affect predicted risk perception. Moreover, risk perception and behavioral intention were heightened after exposure to the media coverage of an actual tornado disaster. However, the display format manipulation did not influence behavioral responses. The current study provides insight regarding public perception of predisaster warnings and the influence of exposure to media coverage of an actual disaster event.     

Life Balance and Work Addiction Among NCAA Administrators and Coaches

Intercollegiate athletics represent an industry prone to challenges of work addiction and life balance. Work addiction and life balance domains in male and female intercollegiate athletic coaches and administrators (N = 245) were examined using multiple regression analysis. Higher levels of stress/anxiety, sleep disturbance, and career satisfaction and lower levels of quality of relationships and friendships were the strongest predictors of work addiction. Counseling focused on reducing the negative aspects of work addiction, while maintaining job performance, may benefit this population.     

The Practical Significance of Measurement Error in Pulmonary Function Testing Conducted in Research Settings

Conventional spirometry produces measurement error by using repeatability criteria (RC) to discard acceptable data and terminating tests early when RC are met. These practices also implicitly assume that there is no variation across maneuvers within each test. This has implications for air pollution regulations that rely on pulmonary function tests to determine adverse effects or set standards. We perform a Monte Carlo simulation of 20,902 tests of forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV₁), each with eight maneuvers, for an individual with empirically obtained, plausibly normal pulmonary function. Default coefficients of variation for inter‐ and intratest variability (3% and 6%, respectively) are employed. Measurement error is defined as the difference between results from the conventional protocol and an unconstrained, eight‐maneuver alternative. In the default model, average measurement error is shown to be ～5%. The minimum difference necessary for statistical significance at p < 0.05 for a before/after comparison is shown to be 16%. Meanwhile, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has deemed single‐digit percentage decrements in FEV₁ sufficient to justify more stringent national ambient air quality standards. Sensitivity analysis reveals that results are insensitive to intertest variability but highly sensitive to intratest variability. Halving the latter to 3% reduces measurement error by 55%. Increasing it to 9% or 12% increases measurement error by 65% or 125%, respectively. Within‐day FEV₁ differences ≤5% among normal subjects are believed to be clinically insignificant. Therefore, many differences reported as statistically significant are likely to be artifactual. Reliable data are needed to estimate intratest variability for the general population, subpopulations of interest, and research samples. Sensitive subpopulations (e.g., chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD patients, asthmatics, children) are likely to have higher intratest variability, making it more difficult to derive valid statistical inferences about differences observed after treatment or exposure.     

Vegetation on and around large-scale buildings positively influences native tropical bird abundance and bird species richness

High population growth in the tropics is driving urbanisation, removing diverse natural ecosystems. This is causing native species to suffer while introduced synanthropes flourish. City planners are developing urban greenspace networks, in part trying to address this issue. Architects contribute to these greenspace networks by designing elevated and ground level green spaces on large-scale buildings. However, little evidence is available on whether building green spaces support native fauna. This is true for birds in tropical Singapore that support important ecosystem services and have existence value. Therefore, in this study, we conducted bird surveys and statistical analyses to determine, if and how vegetation on three building green space types (ground gardens, roof gardens and green walls) have a positive impact on native or introduced bird species. We found that elevated greenery (roof gardens and green walls) on large-scale buildings supported a higher richness of birds and abundance of urban native birds than control roofs and walls without vegetation. Ground gardens supported similar levels of native species as roof gardens but also a larger proportion of generalist synanthropes. However, we found no tropical forest habitat specialists across any space type. Therefore, we recommend roof gardens and ground gardens as a potential space for urban natives outside of a less competitive ground-level urban environment. Our study also found certain building design elements (height of elevated space, presence of specific plants) supported different species groups. Therefore, we suggest that these ecological requirements for different species groups are considered when designing a building’s green space.

     

Using the Delphi Method to Classify Medical Specialties

One medical specialty classification system applicable for research and career counseling is the person‐oriented versus technique‐oriented taxonomy. Given that the model was conceptualized in the 1960s, verification based on how medical specialties are practiced and viewed today is necessary. Five specialists in medical career development and advising verified the categorization of specialties. Based on their review, 100% consensus was reached regarding grouping of specialties. This outcome validates the taxonomy of medical specialties and supports its continued use for medical career specialty advising and choice.     

Learning from others: conditioning versus averaging

How should we revise our beliefs in response to the expressed probabilistic opinions of experts on some proposition when these experts are in disagreement? In this paper I examine the suggestion that in such circumstances we should adopt a linear average of the experts’ opinions and consider whether such a belief revision policy is compatible with Bayesian conditionalisation. By looking at situations in which full or partial deference to the expressed opinions of others is required by Bayesianism I show that only in trivial circumstances are the requirements imposed by linear averaging compatible with it.     

Staff and family attitudes to fences as a means of detaining people with dementia in residential aged care settings: The tension between physical and emotional safety

This study investigates staff and family attitudes towards the use of the fences that surround many aged care facilities in Australia, in the context of indefinite detention of people with dementia. This indefinite detention has been described in a report from an Australian Senate Inquiry as “a significant problem within the aged care context”, which “is often informal, unregulated and unlawful”. Five focus groups comprising direct care workers, family members, nurse unit managers and facility managers discussed the reasons for and their attitudes towards fences. The results show a tension between the provision of physical and emotional safety. This is to say that even while it is illegal to detain people with dementia against their will, and even while participants understood the negative impact of fences on the well‐being and emotional safety of people with dementia, they accepted and supported the presence of perimeter fences because they provided the perception that fences kept people with dementia physically safe. This has implications for redressing the balance between physical and emotional safety in policy and practice.