Walking the tightrope: directing a student health center at a research institution with an academic medical center

Reporting lines for directors of student health centers (SHCs) at colleges and universities are a matter of continuing interest for those of us who must follow them. SHC directors at institutions with academic medical centers face a greater number of reporting choices that also have the potential of being more politically charged. The author describes his experience at 2 such institutions and offers some cautious advice.     

上海国际金融中心建设与南京区域金融中心构想

上海国际金融中心建设是重要的国家战略,中国迫切需要有这一竞争战略高地的支撑。应当坚持从国家战略高度,理解、思考、谋划、引领上海国际金融中心建设,一要强化目标意识和差距意识;二要加强金融市场和金融机构两个体系建设;三要大力发展投资基金类金融中心;四要提升金融服务水平,改善金融发展环境。南京区域金融中心构建是泛长三角一体化的迫切需要,有着众多的优势条件。应当明确指导思想与指导原则：壮大南京金融体系,做强南京金融机构;建设南京金融后台服务产业基地;建立推进南京区域金融中心构建的保障条件。上海国际金融中心和南京区域金融中心同在中国长三角和泛长三角地区,区域内各城市都应参与合作共建与联动。上海、南京这两个中心建设应当积极进行错位联动发展。     

A structural model of consumption: An application to China during the global financial crisis

In this paper, we develop a structural model of consumption by incorporating psychological constructs which constitute important antecedents of household consumption and provide crucial structural linkages to the mental accounting evaluation of saving or consumption. Our model is tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). The model is applied to China for measuring consumption expenditure under uncertainty emanating from the 2008 global financial crisis. An empirical test using 9784 new Chinese household survey data show that our structural model is a significant improvement over the existing behavioral life cycle model, as it is able to capture the psychological states affecting different groups of consumers such as employed workers and unemployed retirees. Our new structural model of consumption fits the data very well. The results have important implications for public policy assessment.     

Improvement of financial management by local government: Computer model implementation

Abstract

We develop a computerized optimization model and present its implementation for improvement of financial management at the local government (LG) level. An example of the real-life long-term budget planning and analysis, helped by the model, is presented. The analysis exemplifies good governance practice and observation of standards of efficient management in the area of long-term financial, investment and safe debt planning. These analyses also demonstrate ways of accessing maximum, feasible level of investment expenditure and maximum capacity of a municipality to borrow with all safety measures provided. The model supports informed decision-making process by LG managers, decreases the level of risk and enhances quality and transparency of governance.     

Workplace flexibility: a model of change

The inception of When Work Works – a theoretical- and research-based model of change in promoting effective and flexible workplaces – dates back to the confluence of a number of factors in the early 1990s. One decade later, this ‘perfect storm’ of factors led to the creation of When Work Works, and two decades later, to this critical assessment of the foundation for and results of this model of change. When Work Works has used partnerships with nationwide business organizations with community chapters in combination with media coverage, educational events, the creation of tools and materials and grassroots methods to communicate well-researched information to employers that show workplace flexibility is not just a favor or perk for employees but can be a powerful strategy for promoting better outcomes for both employers and employees. The program has been responsible for implementing a rigorous award and providing numerous community-based recognition and educational events on workplace effectiveness and flexibility around the country and for assisting many employers to effectively create more flexible and effective workplaces. When Work Works has been designed around eight key principles for creating change on a national level. This paper presents the context in which When Work Works evolved, a detailed discussion of the eight principles of Families and Work Institute's model of change, its results and lessons other organizations may wish to apply in their own change initiatives.     

Supporting public financial management in conflict‐affected situations: Adapting to change in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

This article traces the introduction of public financial management (PFM) processes and systems in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) since they came under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA). A number of factors combined make for an extremely challenging context for external actors to catalyse change: non‐existent formal central government functions at the time the PA was established, major restrictions in the movement of goods and people, ill‐designed donor budget support and a very asymmetric distribution of power that favours the status quo. An unelected government, donor‐dependency and a suffocating and chronic (yet low‐level) conflict are increasingly de‐incentivizing long‐term institutional reform. Such a complex problem requires multi‐faceted solutions. This article describes a dual delivery model adopted by the Palestinian Governance Facility (PGF) encompassing adaptive interventions that support longer‐term PFM improvements combined with the introduction of a selective workstream targeting service delivery. This focuses on the management of external medical referrals, which emerged as a political problem. A flexible development assistance delivery model can allow reform areas not anticipated at project design to be tackled as they emerge on the political agenda and open the space for political capital. A constant examination of contextual issues and re‐programming of project activities are offering lessons from which to learn and adapt. The ideal coalition involves flexible, aligned donors and relevant “institutional entrepreneurs” from within local organizations, with direct access to politicians. If high‐level government buy‐in falters, a coalition of technocrats may help construct and broker problems from which to gain political access.     

Modified stages of acquisition of gateway drug use: a primary prevention application of the stages of change model

The purpose of the study was to identify the stages of acquisition of gateway drugs in fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. The Stages of Acquisition model is a primary prevention application of the Stages of Change model. The subjects in the study were 811 students from seventeen elementary schools in Arkansas and Missouri. The instrument elicited information regarding the stages of acquisition and individual self-reported drug use. The data were analyzed using frequency, distribution, discriminant analysis, and correlation analyses. Stage placement was confirmed using a series of drug use measures. Results confirmed the existence of discrete stages of acquisition. Results supported the concept of gateway drugs in that subjects indicated they had progressed further through the stages of acquisition of alcohol use than through the stages of acquisition of cigarettes use, smokeless tobacco use, or marijuana use.     

青岛市加快推进区域金融中心建设的问题与对策

青岛市是山东省经济发展的龙头。伴随经济的快速增长。近年来金融业也取得了长足的发展。在审视和考察国内主要区域金融中心发展和建设经验的基础上可知。为使青岛市的经济发展迈上更高的台阶,金融支撑必不可少。而其核心在于金融服务种类和水平的提升。利用区位优势,青岛市的金融服务业水平提升之后,能为整个山东省及周边区域的经济发展提供强有力的金融支持。因此,加快推进青岛市区域金融中心建设具有重要的现实意义。实际上有关青岛市建设区域金融中心早有规划和实施,根据山东省政府“十一五”规划。要基本形成济南和青岛两个在全国具有较大影响的区域金融中心。目前“十一五”规划期已近结束．回顾青岛市区域金融中心建设的发展历程。总结成绩、寻找不足．进而为今后推进青岛市区域金融中心建设积累经验、寻找突破点。     

A metahistorical information theory of social change: an application

Abstract

In part 1 of this article a new metahistorical approach called sociohistory was created. Its aim is to explore the possibilities of tracking and explaining social change. Here, in part 2 of the article, EPI is placed in a form that enables it to be directly applied to subject societies. An example is an application to the sociohistory of postcolonial Iran, that some would say presages the rise of Islamic fundamentalism.     

Not forgetting happiness: the tripartite model of disability and its application in literary criticism

This interdisciplinary article draws on the social sciences to posit a tripartite model from which literary research into disability can benefit. Ableism and disablism are defined by normative positivisms and non-normative negativisms respectively, but consideration is also given to non-normative positivisms. Informed by experiential knowledge, the model is illustrated with reference to a trilogy of literary representations of blindness: George Sava’s novel Happiness is Blind, Brian Friel’s play Molly Sweeney, and Stephen Kuusisto’s memoir Eavesdropping. The result is a complex reading that recognises problems but also non-normative renderings of happiness.     

Disability and climate change: A critical realist model of climate justice

Existing literature on climate change as an issue of environmental justice documents the heightened vulnerability of people with disabilities to the effects of climate change. Additionally, there are numerous studies showing that access to information is a prerequisite for perceiving risk and taking action. Building on this work, our review seeks to understand how physical disability relates to perceptions of climate-related risk and adaptations to climate-related events. We introduce a critical realist model of climate justice to understand the relationships between the environmental features that disable, risk perception and information seeking, and adaptive capacity and resilience to climate change. In understanding the vulnerability and adaptive capacity of people with disabilities to climate change, this review synthesizes research on one of the U.S.’s largest minority communities with the goals of better understanding how vulnerable populations cope with climate change and integrating them into climate action and policy.     

Strategies of valuation: repertoires of worth at the financial margins

This article draws upon thirteen months of ethnographic research in a Chicago pawnshop to show how prices of objects in pawnshops are actively, socially negotiated using what I term discursive strategies of valuation. Three kinds of discursive strategies of valuation emerge repeatedly in the data: a. references to the specific material attributes of the objects, b. references to the unique biographical histories of the objects, c. reference to the financial need and (relative) social positioning of the customer involved in the negotiation. Examining these strategies reveals the relationship between socially contingent and culturally constructed perceptions of value and the production of price. I find that rhetorical strategies can and do affect price, within limits. Perhaps most surprisingly, the data show that discursive strategies emphasizing a lower socio-economic status can inflate the value, and ultimately the price, of an object during negotiations.     

Use of a conceptual model of societal drivers of ecological change in South Florida: Implications of an ecosystem management scenario

Human-dominated ecosystems such as in South Florida's Everglades region are greatly affected by societal actions and choices, and efforts to restore degraded ecosystems must take into account the societal drivers of ecosystem change. A conceptual model of societal-ecological interactions within the region illustrates connections between major societal drivers, such as water management and land use, and ecological stressors, such as loss of habitat and nutrient loading. Using the conceptual model as an initial guide for discussion, examination of a restoration scenario for the region shows that social and economic effects from activities proposed in a restoration scenario will likely affect most sectors of South Florida. Political effects from changing land and water management practices likely will be significant, as will the physical effects of changing water structures and management practices. Conceptual models such as this can aid in the initial stages of ecosystem restoration discussions and can assist in planning for subsequent social science evaluations of specific societal impacts of actual proposed governmental restoration alternatives. In crafting restoration scenarios, local, regional, and national decision makers can use conceptual models such as this to help broaden the early considerations of how possible future changes in societal drivers, including management choices, will change ecological stressors that affect ecosystem health.     

Clinical application of anxiety management and relaxation training: A multi-referral workshop

Anxiety may be so significant a block to problem-solving and the treatment process that clinicians, regardless of their treatment orientation, often find it useful to have tranquilizing medications prescribed for their clients as a concomitant to therapy. This paper reports on the practical application of group relaxation training as an anxiety management tool for clients at mental health centers. Besides teaching relaxation, this training, for which there are no contraindications listed in thePhysicians Desk Reference, teaches body awareness and self-regulation, specificity and clarifying thoughts, and is a useful model for the rational, problem-solving process.