Poverty,social disadvantage,and the black/white placement gap

In this paper, we examine whether county-level measures of poverty and social disadvantage are correlated with county-level variation in the black/white foster care placement gap. The black/white placement gap refers to the fact that when the rate of placement into foster care for black children is compared to the rate for white children living in the same area, the black placement rate is almost always higher than the rate for whites. Although differential exposure to poverty is often used to explain why the placement gap is so large, the problem has rarely been studied. Using Poisson event count models, we find that poverty, measured at the county ecological level, is associated with a narrower gap rather than a wider gap. The counterintuitive finding is due to the fact that the relationship between poverty and placement rates depends on race.     

Forecasting Materials Damage from Air Pollution

Forecasts of materials damage from air pollution require (a) knowledge of a “damage function,” (b) an estimate of the exposure of materials to pollutants and other factors that enter into the dose relationship, and (c) the quantity and characteristics of the exposed materials. Uncertainty about any of these factors can lead to unacceptable uncertainty or bias in damage forecasts. Particular attention is given to the influence of the spatial units used to derive forecasts of materials damage. Environmental corrosion can vary significantly over relatively small geographic areas; accordingly, the choice of spatial unit can have an impact on forecasts of damage. The environmental factors that influence materials damage may not be independent over the time of exposure. There appears to be some evidence, for example, that SO₂ is not independent of time of wetness, both factors in metal corrosion.     

What makes a developmental network state durable?

As dynamic collaborations between networks of specialists have become more central to developing cutting-edge innovations, designing and sustaining innovation policies that foster them has become an increasingly central concern. This article reviews the characteristics of the “developmental network” or “neo-developmental” states that have been shown to foster innovations at the technological horizon. It then analyzes the US case to suggest why some developmental network approaches to governance have proven relatively durable, while others have not. We conclude with a discussion of what can – and cannot – be learned from the US case, and suggest the importance of comparative work on the sustainability of effective innovation-centered approaches to governance.     

民间组织走出去

美国环保协会的故事开始于50多年前一场关于保护鸬鹚,一种可爱的鸟类的运动。上世纪60年代,美国长岛的科学家惊讶地发现当地鸬鹚幼鸟的数量由于不知名的原因,急剧下滑至正常数量的七分之一。与此同时,秃头鹰、游隼等其他猛禽的数量也出现了同样惊人的跌幅。其中一些科学家通过科学研究追踪问题的根源,发现喷洒杀虫剂DDT（又称“滴滴涕”）是造成这一现象的罪魁祸首。在通过科学的指证赢得了在美国全面禁止DDT使用的官司之后,为了进一步保护人类赖以生存的自然环境,这些科学家成立了美国环保协会。     

Out of touch: local government and disabled people's employment needs

In autumn 2003 we contracted to undertake a study in two district council areas of ways in which they could meet their Local Public Service Agreement (LPSA) targets in respect of disabled people returning to work. We undertook a literature review of barriers to work, interviewed a number of people involved in working with unemployed people and a number of disabled people in these areas. All the employment organisations we had contact with were working to an individual model of disability and the need to change their orientation became the central recommendation of the first phase of this study. This was rejected by those funding the study. At the end of the first year none of the organisations active in this area was able to identify a single disabled person who had returned to work as a result of their help. We conclude that central government policies are doing little to change the perception of the employment needs of disabled people within local government.     

美国文化人类学的当代理论趋势

本文试图总结美国文化人类学的当代理论和方法论.这里所讨论的这些美国人类学的当代观念是基于它们的历史脉络、继承、重现、转变和对立.从20世纪60年代起,在诸如主观性、权力和民族志表述等问题上,人类学理论和方法论发生了许多非常显著的转变和分歧.这种状况起因于人类文化学研究的文学化途径,这种途径是经由格尔茨(Geertz)以及其他学术运动,如英国的文化研究(Cultural Studies),特别是福柯(Foucault)的后现代主义而发展起来的.由此,人类学由来已久的喧嚣的科学和人文之间的对峙已经演绎出独立的认识论阵营,在某些情况下导致了一些大学中人类学系的分离.同时,这种分裂也激发或伴随着一种对当代全球化形势下文化人类学研究对象的定位的承认,比如本土性(indigenous)、下层 (subalterns)研究,确认了这些研究对象在研究项目中具有合法的权利和合作的声音.这种转向使人们愈加关注应用人类学,同时也伴随着许多新的问题,例如"本土知识"的观念.另一个分裂是一些特定的专门研究领域的学科建制,如医学人类学、生态人类学和教育人类学等,而这些领域的每一个又都存在着其内部分歧和区别.这些正在发生的变化引起了对于博厄斯学派所传承下来的诸如文化、文化相对主义等观念的效用和学术规范的质疑.过去的30年是一个骚动激荡、分崩离析的时期,人类学研究在这个时期卷入了全球资本主义的新的文化逻辑的转换之中.     

FACTORS RELATED TO FAMILY THERAPISTS' BREAKING CONFIDENCE WHEN CLIENTS DISCLOSE HIGH-RISKS-TO-HIV/AIDS SEXUAL BEHAVIORS

This national survey of 309 marriage and family therapists examined what therapists do when their HIV-positive clients disclose that they are engaging in high-risk sexual behavior. The participants were given vignettes in which a fictitious client told the therapist about engaging in unprotected sex. Although the basic situations were the same, the client variables of age, gender, race, sexual orientation, and HIV status were systematically varied. The participants were more likely to break confidence regarding unsafe sex practices when their clients were male, young, gay, or African American. Moreover, therapists who were more likely to disclose were older, female, had less experience with gay/lesbian populations, were Catholic, were very religious, and were more likely to practice in urban areas. The authors discuss the implications of these and other findings.     

A Model of the Antecedents of Perceived Ease of Use: Development and Test*

The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has been widely used to predict user acceptance and use based on perceived ease of use and usefulness. However, in order to design effective training interventions to improve user acceptance, it is necessary to better understand the antecedents and determinants of key acceptance constructs. In this research, we focus on understanding the determinants of perceived ease of use. Data from three experiments spanning 108 subjects and six different systems supported our hypothesis that an individual's perception of a particular system's ease of use is anchored to her or his general computer self-efficacy at all times, and objective usability has an impact on ease of use perceptions about a specific system only after direct experience with the system. In addition to being an important research issue in user acceptance research, understanding antecedents of perceived ease of use is also important from a practical standpoint since several systems in which millions of dollars are invested are rejected because of poor user interfaces. Moreover, the actual underlying problem might be low computer self-efficacy of the target user group. In such cases, training interventions aimed at improving computer self-efficacy of users may be more effective than improved interface design for increasing user acceptance.     

User Perceptions of Decision Support Effectiveness: Two Production Planning Experiments*

Decision support systems continue to be very popular in business, despite mixed research evidence as to their effectiveness. We hypothesize that what-if analysis, a prominent feature of most decision support systems, creates an “illusion of control” causing users to overestimate its effectiveness. Two experiments involving a production planning task are reported which examine decision makers' perceptions of the effectiveness of what-if analysis relative to the alternatives of unaided decision making, and quantitative decision rules. Experiment 1 found that almost all subjects believed what-if analysis was superior to unaided decision making, although using what-if analysis had no significant effect on performance. Experiment 2 found that decision makers were indifferent between what-if analysis and a quantitative decision rule which, if used, would have led to significant cost savings. Thus, what-if analysis did create an illusion of control: decision makers perceived performance differences where none existed, and did not detect large differences when they were present. In both experiments, decision makers exhibited difficulty realizing that their positive beliefs about what-if analysis were exaggerated. Such misjudgments could lead people to continue using what-if analysis even when it is not beneficial and to avoid potentially superior decision support technologies.