Managing electronic documents and work flows: Enterprise content management at work in nonprofit organizations

Web management and knowledge management systems have made significant technological advances, culminating in large information management systems such as enterprise content management (ECM). ECM is a Web‐based publishing system that manages large numbers of electronic documents and other Web assets intended for publication to Web portals and other complex Web sites. Work in nonprofit organizations can benefit from adopting new communication technologies that promote collaboration and enterprisewide knowledge management. The unique characteristics of ECM are enumerated and analyzed from a knowledge management perspective. We identify three stages of document life cycles in ECM implementations—content, reification, and commodification/process—as the content management model. We present the model as a mechanism for decision makers and scholars to use in evaluating the organizational impacts of systems such as ECM. We also argue that decision makers in nonprofit organizations should take care to avoid overly commodifying business processes in the final stage, where participation may be more beneficial than efficiency.     

On the expansion of the market and the decline of the family

Over the past two hundred years, large, modern firms have tended to replace small, family businesses. In parallel, the family has declined as a social institution. We suggest that these developments are interrelated. Because information of cheating in market transactions spreads only gradually in large markets, the reputation of the family firm could support contractual performance only in small, traditional markets. As markets grew in size, this reputational mechanism could no longer operate. The small, family firm was then replaced by the large, modern firm. This transition led to a decrease in the importance of the family.      

The coexistence of Fox (Sciurus niger) and gray (S. caroliniensis) squirrels in the Chicago metropolitan area

Two species of tree squirrel inhabit the Chicago region, the fox (Sciurus niger) and gray (S. caroliniensis) squirrel. Chicago residents submitted squirrel observations and associated landscape variables via a Website, allowing us to map squirrel distributions. Data were analyzed for patterns of correlation. At a smaller scale, we did a foot survey of fox and gray squirrels in the suburb of Oak Park, replicating an earlier study and comparing results. Gray squirrels were associated with densely populated areas, parks and campuses, fox squirrels with suburban areas. Compared to gray squirrels, fox squirrels were more likely to be observed in areas of high cat density. In the suburb of Oak Park, the current trend seems to be an extension of gray squirrel distribution and a decrease in fox squirrel distribution. Our study provides support for the idea that fox and gray squirrel coexistence is facilitated by a trade-off between managing the cost of predation and foraging efficiency, gray squirrels out-competing fox squirrels in areas of high food and low predator (or pet) density.     

Bridges to Sobriety: Testing the Feasibility and Acceptability of a Mobile App Designed to Supplement an Adolescent Substance Use Disorder Treatment Program

Clinical Social Work Journal - Adolescent substance use is a growing problem that causes a myriad of negative outcomes. Using substances during adolescence can lead to decreased executive...     

Are Boards Designed to Fail? The Implausibility of Effective Board Monitoring

In this review, we challenge the idea that directors are well positioned to be effective monitors of management. Moving beyond the logic of incentives and ability, we conceptualize a model based on the premise of boards as groups of individuals obtaining, processing and sharing information and explain how variation in information-processing demands at the director, board and firm level may challenge effective monitoring. We draw on multiple theoretical perspectives to identify these barriers to effective board monitoring. Our goal in reviewing these barriers is to help us take stock of existing research in corporate governance and to better explain board behavior beyond traditional agency and resource dependency accounts. We also aim to uncover gaps in the conceptual and empirical research and suggest areas of fruitful future research.     

Improved point and confidence interval estimators of mean response in simulation when control variates are used

In discrete event simulation, the method of control variates is often used to reduce the variance of estimation for the mean of the output response. In the present paper, it is shown that when three or more control variates are used, the usual linear regression estimator of the mean response is one of a large class of unbiased estimators, many of which have smaller variance than the usual estimator. In simulation studies using control variates, a confidence interval for the mean response is typically reported as well. Intervals with shorter width have been proposed using control variates in the literature. The present paper however develops confidence intervals which not only have shorter width but also have higher coverage probability than the usual confidence interval     

Determinants of International Migration Flows to and from Industrialized Countries: A Panel Data Approach Beyond Gravity1

We quantified determinants of international migratory inflows to 17 Western countries and outflows from 13 of these countries between 1950 and 2007 in 77,658 observations from multiple sources using panel-data analysis techniques. To construct a quantitative model that could be useful for demographic projection, we analyzed the logarithm of the number of migrants (inflows and outflows separately) as dependent variables in relation to demographic, geographic, and social independent variables. The independent variables most influential on log inflows were demographic [log population of origin and destination and log infant mortality rate (IMR) of origin and destination] and geographic (log distance between capitals and log land area of the destination). Social and historical determinants were less influential. For log outflows from the 13 countries, the most influential independent variables were log population of origin and destination, log IMR of destination, and log distance between capitals. A young age structure in the destination was associated with lower inflows while a young age structure in the origin was associated with higher inflows. Urbanization in destination and origin increased international migration. IMR affected inflows and outflows significantly but oppositely. Being landlocked, having a common border, having the same official language, sharing a minority language, and colonial links also had statistically significant but quantitatively smaller effects on international migration. Comparisons of models with different assumed correlation structures of residuals indicated that independence was the best assumption, supporting the use of ordinary-least-squares estimation techniques to obtain point estimates of coefficients.     

Modeling distances between humans using Taylor’s law and geometric probability

Taylor’s law states that the variance of the distribution of distance between two randomly chosen individuals is a power function of the mean distance. It applies to the distances between two randomly chosen points in various geometric shapes, subject to a few conditions. In Réunion Island and metropolitan France, at some spatial scales, the empirical frequency distributions of inter-individual distances are predicted accurately by the theoretical frequency distributions of inter-point distances in models of geometric probability under a uniform distribution of points. When these models fail to predict the empirical frequency distributions of inter-individual distances, they provide baselines against which to highlight the spatial distribution of population concentrations.     

An Experiment in Overseas Field Instruction

This paper reports on a study that examined the knowledge needed for practice in community mental health and the primary source for this knowledge. Differences were found in knowledge areas needed for practice in community mental health settings when contrasted with practice in more traditional mental health agencies. The most frequently indicated source of knowledge for social work roles in community mental health was on-the-job experience. Courses in social work schools were not a primary source of knowledge for the many nonclinical roles undertaken by social workers in community mental health.     

Socioeconomic Status,Psychosocial Factors and Health in Urban Guyana

Abstract

This study seeks to understand the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and self-reported indicators of physical and mental health in an urban Third World context. The data come from a probability sample of 654 adult residents of Georgetown, Guyana. There is a significant inverse association between formal education and morbidity for four of the six measures of health status. In this research the extent to which self-concept, health behaviors, stress and social ties are linked to health status and SES, and can explain SES differences in health status is explored. Psychosocial factors, especially the self-concept measures (self-esteem and mastery) play a moderate role in accounting for educational differences in health status.