Women's participation in self‐help groups as a pathway to women's empowerment: A case of Nepal

Non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) and the government of Nepal have made some effort to reduce poverty in Nepal by creating women's affiliation groups, some of which are micro‐credit organizations. Using capabilities as defined by Amartya Sen (Development as freedom, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2000), which includes employment opportunities, women's ownership in productive resources such as land and/or homes, educational opportunities, and women's participation in decision‐making in the family, this study evaluated the extent to which women's ethnic group or caste affiliation affected a woman's likelihood of being empowered by participation in these groups. We analyzed a sample of 8,973 women which was taken from the 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey. Previous research has demonstrated that participation in gender‐based groups is correlated with higher economic status. This study adds to the literature on women's affiliation groups by investigating the impact of structural factors, such as caste and ethnicity, on women's self‐help group participation (women's groups and credit groups).     

创新理念的中国管理C模式解读

创新发展理念的践行与中国传统文化密切相关。中国古典哲学从儒、墨、道、法、兵、易、禅等学说为创新提供了仁义的价值内核、创新主体自由发展的驱动力、德性管理、实践理性的方法论、尚贤尚同的组织原则、权变、逆向、谋算、质疑、直觉、发散、非线性等创新思维、博学、审问、慎思、明辨、笃行的创新过程管理、知行合一的创新实践机制,超越的本质精神,以整体性导向性动态性的文化管理体系推动创新的生生不息。进一步整合西方创新理论与管理工具,则构建了中国管理C模式的创新管理系统模型。阴阳变易法则推动创新元素的融合转化与裂变,形成开放式、协同式的有机组织,推动全面创新及自主创新。中国管理C模式实现了创新管理的价值性、工具性、实践性的统一,为大众创新提供了管理哲学视角的理论基础与方法论。     

How to conduct a Narrative Policy Framework study

The Narrative Policy Framework has a growing number of researchers seeking to apply the framework in policy process scholarship. This article is intended to assist those interested in conducting an NPF study that is ‘clear enough to be wrong’ (Sabatier, 2000). While graduate programs offer critical methodological training, this article focuses on the specific application of the NPF to research inquiries about the role of policy narratives in the policy process. We approach our discussion by examining various decisions in the research process and include a detailed discussion of specifying the model and obtaining narrative data. We also point out areas for further investigation.     

Farmers’ adaptability to the policy of ecological protection in China—A case study in Yanchi County,China

Due to long-term human activities, grassland ecosystems have been severely damaged. To protect grassland ecosystems, the prohibited grazing policy (PGP), a grassland ecological protection policy, was instituted for Chinese grasslands in 2002. However, it is unknown whether farmers have effectively adapted to the PGP. The adaptability of farmers to this policy has directly influenced the effective implementation of the policy and the sustainable development of the ecosystem. Previous research on adaptability has not focused on the adaptation to political change. This article uses a case study in Northwest China to investigate the adaptability of farmers to the policy. First, we study the restoration status of ecosystems. In addition, this paper studies the perceptions regarding farmers’ adaptability to the policy and explores the adaptation strategies of different types of farmers. Finally, this paper discusses the main factors that influence farmers’ choice of adaptation strategies. The implementation of the PGP has achieved remarkable ecological benefits. Farmers of different types had different adaptation perceptions, and their choices of adaptation strategies also varied. In addition to the farmers’ perception of the policy, the main factors that influenced farmers’ adaptation strategies also included livelihood capital.     

文化现代性的视觉观看——二十世纪三四十年代藏区摄影

20世纪30-40年代的藏区摄影呈现出科学主义指导下的视觉再现,这种看似中立客观的影像背后隐藏着文化与视觉的现代性.通过这种视觉呈现,西方人展示了两种关于西藏的想象,本土知识分子的藏区影像则是希冀通过“可见的边地”来引导知识启蒙与现代民族国家的建立.     

Social Development Quartet: Emotion Socialization in the Context of Psychopathology and Risk

An introduction is provided to this Social Development Quartet in which the articles focus on parent emotion socialization in the context of psychopathology and risk. In two articles, the samples of children and/or adolescents have a psychiatric diagnosis [oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) or depressive disorder]. The other two articles feature samples in which children and families have experienced serious risks [exposure to inter‐parental violence (IPV) or maternal incarceration]. The articles in this Social Development Quartet extend our knowledge of the impact of parental emotion socialization practices to contexts in which children and parents experience higher than normative risks. The work reported in these articles builds upon research on emotion socialization in normative contexts, illustrating the buffering effects of supportive parenting as well as its limits.     

Welfare Rigidity,the Composition of Public Expenditure and the Welfare Trap

Welfare expenditure is characterized by rigidity, i.e., it goes up easily but is very hard to get down. We introduced welfare rigidity into an endogenous growth model that includes government expenditure to analyze the impact of welfare rigidity and the composition of public expenditure on economic growth and family utility. Our findings show that welfare spending and economic growth have a non-monotonic relationship that is negative or inverted U-shaped depending on cross-country differences. Higher welfare rigidity reduces long-term economic growth and household utility. According to the estimated optimal size of welfare expenditure, China, as a developing country with a large population, has to do all it can to improve people’s livelihood but must at the same time weigh its limited resources so that its welfare expenditure does not fall into a “welfare trap.”     

Conflicts of Interest in Academic Research: Policies,Processes, and Attitudes

Few studies have examined academic researchers' understandings of or attitudes toward conflict of interest policies even though these understandings and attitudes represent a crucial component of both compliance and educational efforts. This study reports the results of a large-scale, cross-sectional survey of research faculty at the nine campuses of the University of California regarding their understandings of and attitudes toward campus conflict of interest policies. We gathered information on their general assessments of investigators with financial ties to industry sponsors and reactions to the process of implementing conflict of interest policies at their respective campuses. We surveyed 1,971 faculty members from the nine-campus University of California system and had 779 responses (39% response rate). The sampled faculty were in the ten departments with the most number of financial disclosures at each campus. We utilized the WebSurveyor software to create a secure, online, 21-item survey. Our study reveals faculty with complex, sometimes contradictory, feelings about academic-industry relationships and highlights perceived gaps in policy and process. Most respondents were concerned about unlimited financial relationships, but a sizable number also viewed campus policies as irrelevant. Some expressed considerable anger over the process of policy implementation, rejecting the policies on the basis of professional and individual self-determination and moral integrity. Our study suggests the need for renewed efforts to encourage awareness of the relevance of conflict of interest policies for all faculty, new efforts to increase understanding of the situational nature of conflicts of interest, and a reexamination of the processes of policy implementation at the campus level.