Identifying Off-Diagonal Communities Using the Australian Early Development Census Results

An individual’s, and indeed the nation’s, social and economic futures are highly dependent on early childhood development (ECD) outcomes, with poor ECD inhibiting future opportunities. Ecological ECD literature describes family, community and institutions as being key factors in children’s wellbeing, with suggestions that community factors may ameliorate impacts of poor ECD. It is therefore important to develop a greater understanding of those modifiable factors that positively, and negatively, affect ECD outcomes so as ECD policy and practice can be designed and implemented effectively. One approach to this analysis is through the identification and analysis of influencing factors identified within off-diagonal communities—that is those communities where children have either developed well in consideration of their high-levels of socio-economic disadvantage, or developed poorly in consideration of their low levels of socio-economic disadvantage. In this paper we describe a new method for the identification of off-diagonal communities. The method provides a clear and transparent approach to community selection, including a range of methods to further interrogate the community selection ensuring a rigorous and considered selection process. This new method, based on population Census and Australian Early Development Census data, provides the first step in identifying community factors likely to facilitate childhood wellbeing. These findings could inform policy making to reduce inequities by assisting in policy and service delivery design targeted to community needs.     

Evidence for the use of an algorithm in resolving inconsistent and missing Indigenous status in administrative data collections

Measures of the gap in living standards, life expectancy, education, health and employment between Indigenous and non‐Indigenous Australians are primarily derived from administrative data sources. However, Indigenous identification in these data sources is affected by administrative practices, missing data, inconsistency, and error. As these factors have changed over time, assessing whether the gap between Indigenous and non‐Indigenous Australians has changed over time, based on data unadjusted for these sources of error can potentially lead to misguided conclusions. Combining administrative data on the same individuals collected from different sources provides a method by which a more consistent derived Indigenous status can be applied across all records for an individual within a linked data environment. We used the Western Australian Data Linkage system to produce derived Indigenous statuses for individuals using a range of algorithms. We found that these algorithms reduced the amount of missing data and improved within‐individual consistency. Based on these findings, we recommend our Multi‐Stage Median algorithm be used as the standard indicator of Indigenous status for any reporting based on administrative datasets when multiple datasets are available for linkage, and that algorithmic approaches also be considered for improving the quality of other demographic variables from administrative data sources.     

Critical success factors for merger in the UK voluntary sector

This paper reports on research into mergers in the voluntary sector in the UK from 1988 to 1993. It compares empirically derived critical success factors with success factors derived from previous work on mergers in both the voluntary and private sectors. The study concludes that merger can be an extremely effective strategy for voluntary organisations. For it to be so, it has to be undertaken willingly, with a shared vision between the partners of what the merger will achieve. Cultural differences need to be recognised and handled within a trusting context in which mutual respect is backed by an equitable process. Finally; sensitive handling of individuals caught up in the merger process is essential—but something which the voluntary sector ought to be well capable of doing.     

Developing expert systems for management applications

The Alvey Report has resulted in a growing interest in the UK in ‘expert systems’. It is fairly generally accepted, at least in the UK, that such systems function in a particular type of way, i.e. they arrive at decisions through a process of rule based inference. It is suggested that it may be more fruitful to regard rule based inference as one approach to the construction of expert systems, and that proven techniques of operational research may well be more useful in constructing other types of expert system. Alternative applications of expert systems are derived on the basis of a broader definition of an expert system in terms of what it does rather than how it does it. A parallel is drawn between these applications and some typical concerns of business research. It is suggested that a useful aid in identifying promising business applications of expert systems is to set up four ‘dimensions’ along which different types of system differ. Examples are given of where other techniques might conceivably be useful in applications of expert systems.     

Families, orphans and children under stress in Zimbabwe

This paper evaluates a programme called FOCUS in Zimbabwe: Families, Orphans, and Children under Stress. The programme was initiated in 1993 and works with seven community groups, providing support to around 6500 children in 2000 households. The programme succeeds through committed community volunteers, who made over 93,000 visits to households in 1999. Communities are mobilised by building on existing practices, using natural entry points, and careful selection of local volunteers and supervisors. There is good community ownership, extremely low volunteer turnover, and reporting systems verify that aims and objectives are met. The programme maintains good ethics, addresses a range of children's rights, and is sustainable through a mixture of donor funds, FACT (sponsoring organisation) support and community support. Issues of concern include better recognition of psycho-social needs, prevention and protection from sexual abuse, reducing stigma and discrimination, increasing child-centred approaches and participation, and reducing gender imbalance among volunteers.     

The experience and symptoms of blushing as a function of age and reported frequency of blushing

Sixty-five self-identified frequent and infrequent blushers in four age groups (ages 13 to 55) were interviewed regarding their typical experience of blushing, physiological correlates of blushing, age-related changes in blushing, and the social context of blushing. Both groups experienced blushing as varying in intensity, duration, latency, and the extent to which it is accompanied by other physical symptoms. Reported frequency of blushing was negatively correlated with age (r=–.49,p<.0001). While 64% of the subjects age 25 and younger reported blushing more than once a week (and 36% blush daily), only 28% of those over 25 reported blushing more than once a week.We would like to thank Indra Thadani and Susan Cogan for assisting with the interviews and Gina Leveroni, Nancy Berger, and Maria Cruz for their assistance in coding interviews. This research was supported by an NSF Visiting Professorship in Science and Engineering award to the first author. The special assistance of Alan Goldfien, M.D., is gratefully acknowledged. Thanks also go to reviewers for their helpful comments. Preliminary results were presented at the meeting of the International Society for Research on Emotions, Clark University, July 1987.