Parental attitudes regarding the integration of children living with HIV/AIDS into public schools in Hanoi,Vietnam

In some areas of Vietnam, stigmatisation of HIV-infected children by parents in the community represents a major barrier to integration of such youth into public schools. To investigate parental perceptions of integration, researchers interviewed a total of 60 parents from one rural and one urban school district within Hanoi, Vietnam. Resistance to integration stemmed largely from misinformation about disease transmission and worry about protecting HIV-negative children. Educational campaigns targeted at parents, combined with higher levels of trust in the preparedness of teachers to handle situations involving HIV-positive children, could decrease current stigma and opposition to integration into public primary schools.     

Modeling market information processing in new product development: An empirical analysis

This research explores the antecedents and consequences of market information processing during the development process of new high-tech products. To this end, we develop and test a conceptual model for market information processing in three generic stages of the new product development (NPD) process (predevelopment, development and commercialization). In addition, we explore the relationships between market information processing, its antecedents, and product advantage and success. We test our model with responses from 166 NPD-managers in Dutch high-tech firms. The findings show that the market information processing variables are related differentially to new product outcomes, even when controlling for product advantage and product newness to the market. In addition, we found that companies can enhance market information processing for new high-tech products by influencing project priority and flexibility to new products, and by reducing interdepartmental conflict.     

Documentation in evaluation research: Managerial and scientific requirements

Documentation in evaluation research consists of written material, in human- or machine-readable form, pertaining to the plans, activities, and results of the project. It is argued here that good documentation is essential for effective management of evaluations, and for responsible reporting of the research procedures and findings. Documentation relating to electronic data processing activity is especially important. The purpose of this paper is to stimulate consideration and discussion of documentation, and to emphasize its importance in evaluation research. The role of documentation in the planning and control functions of project management is reviewed, and the importance of documentation in the assessment of research quality with respect to objectivity, validity, and replicability is discussed. Reasons for poor documentation are considered. An outline of documentation required in different phases of research projects is provided, and recommendations for improving the quality of documentation are presented.     

Clinical expert systems versus linear models: do we really have to choose?

This article deals with decision subsystems at the level of the organism. In recent years there has been debate as to whether linear models or clinical expert systems make clinical decisions more effectively. Previous articles in this journal have favored linear models. This article argues the opposite case. We show that expert systems are not necessarily more expensive or less accurate than linear models and that, in theory at least, they can perform many tasks that are beyond the scope of linear models. Indeed, while a linear model may serve as a subsystem of a human or computer expert system, an expert system cannot be seen as a subsystem of a linear model. We conclude that clinical expert systems and linear models are not interchangeable and users should not be forced to choose between them.     

Public Reliance on Risk Communication Channels in the Wake of a Cryptosporidium Outbreak

In the spring of 1993, about 39% of Milwaukee-area residents suffered through a nationally publicized illness brought about by cryptosporidium, a parasite that had infested the metropolitan drinking water supply. Our study, based on a telephone survey of 610 local adult residents, indicates that worry about becoming ill in the future with cryptosporidiosis relates more strongly and consistently to public reliance on, and use of, media for cryptosporidium information than do a range of risk perception and experience variables. We propose that more studies should take an audience-centered approach to understanding risk communication.     

Seed funding for health promotion: sowing sustainability or skepticism?

Health promotion activities are enjoying renewed attention fromgovernments under the rubric of chronic disease prevention,yet often with similar and inadequate resources. Seed-fundingopportunities are popular means for governments to distributemonies and groom communities to embed the funded activitiesinto local ecology. The success of seed funding in nurturingcommunity capacity and engendering program sustainability iscontroversial. This article discusses a recent seed-fundingexperience in the Canadian province of British Columbia.