Civil Society Actors as Catalysts for Transnational Social Learning

This paper explores the roles of transnational civil society organizations and networks in transnational social learning. It begins with an investigation into social learning within problem domains and into the ways in which such domain learning builds perspectives and capacities for effective action among domain organizations and institutions. It suggests that domain learning involves problem definition, direction setting, implementation of collective action, and performance monitoring. Transnational civil society actors appear to take five roles in domain learning: (1) identifying issues, (2) facilitating voice of marginalized stakeholders, (3) amplifying the importance of issues, (4) building bridges among diverse stakeholders, and (5) monitoring and assessing solutions. The paper then explores the circumstances in which transnational civil society actors can be expected to make special contributions in important problem domains in the future.     

Bayesian isotonic logistic regression via constrained splines: an application to estimating the serve advantage in professional tennis

Statistical Methods & Applications - In professional tennis, it is often acknowledged that the server has an initial advantage. Indeed, the majority of points are won by the server, making the...     

A population study ofStenocranus minutus (Fab. ) (Hemiptera: Delphacidae)

Summary The seasonal and annual fluctuations in a population of the delphacid,Stenocranus minutus (Fab.) onDactylis glomerata L. were studied from March 1968 to September 1970. The study involved the comparison of several sampling methods to estimate the egg, nymphal and adult numbers and an investigation into causes of mortality within each stage. A population budget was made for the years 1969 and 1970.     

State and local fiscal impacts of US immigrants: Evidence from New Jersey

This paper uses a household-level estimation strategy to develop new evidence on the state and local fiscal impacts of US immigration. The methodology is applied to 1980 census microdata for New Jersey, a state that now ranks fifth in the nation in the size of its foreign-born population. All New Jersey households combined in 1980 imposed a net fiscal burden on state government of more than US$2.1 billion, and a net burden on the aggregate of all local governments totaling nearly $ 690 million. Both native- and immigrant-headed households received government benefits worth more than they paid in taxes. The typical immigrant-headed household imposed an average fiscal burden of $ 350 on local governments throughout New Jersey, versus roughly $ 225 for each native-headed household. At the state level, however, net fiscal impacts of immigrants and natives were similar: an average annual deficit of $ 841 for immigrants compared with $ 846 for native households. There are larger disparities among the foreign-born population than between native-headed and immigrant-headed households. Latin American households have the most unfavorable fiscal implications of any immigrant subgroup. Taken together, our findings illustrate the overriding importance of household income and number of school-age children as determinants of taxes paid, benefits received and, ultimately, of net fiscal impacts.     

Bridging between academia and the workplace: lessons learned about translational research on work-family balance

ABSTRACT

Balancing work and family is a continuous and growing challenge, requiring carefully chosen coping strategies. In spite of the growing amount of research on work-family balance, successful, long term solutions are still not readily available to most workers who are trying to cope with the tensions involved in fulfilling both work and family roles. One possible explanation for this lack of translation of research findings in applied settings may lie in how we do work-family research. The present research note presents translational research as a solution to bridge academia and the workplace. More specifically, it shares our experience of a participatory approach to translational research that was adopted in an interdisciplinary research project on work-family balancing strategies. The main objective of this research note is to provide an example of how translational research was carried out in this kind of community-initiated study, and how this approach can facilitate short-term, concrete applications of the knowledge gained from and with the research partners.     

Rethinking Learning Disabilities in the College Classroom: A Multicultural Perspective

This exploratory, qualitative study examined the opinions of social work faculty/instructors on teaching multicultural content with the inclusion of individuals with learning disabilities. It seeks to create a framework for understanding learning disabilities within the definition of a multicultural population and diversity in order to create a more inclusive educational atmosphere that relinquishes the focus on individual deficits that has long been the standard of education policy. This phenomenological research supports the groundbreaking work of Gilson and DePoy, who define individuals with disabilities as being inclusive in the definition of multicultural diverse groups, often termed unique cultures; these individuals, possessing shared life experiences peculiar to that group, possess unique social status, rules, and languages. Three hundred and twenty-six surveys were returned as completed from a state stratified selection method used to ensure accurate representation of social work educators nationally. The phenomenological format, which focuses on the individual's experiences, gives voice to individuals who might not otherwise have a voice. Adult Learning Theory is utilized as the framework to understand educational contexts that illuminate learning culture in higher education and support LD as a genuine population for inclusion in the diversity schema. Historical oversight of including individuals with LD in the definition of multicultural diverse groups is discussed and reasons for the oversight are explained. National social work faculty/instructors were surveyed and an exploratory survey was constructed to compare teaching of multicultural content. Ten multicultural diverse groups were defined, with the inclusion of individuals with LD, and qualitative questions were created and responses were coded into themes. Findings, implications, and limitations of the study are discussed along with supporting suggestions for more social work research concerning individuals with learning disabilities.     

Semantic network representation of computer-mediated discussions: Conceptual facilitation form and knowledge acquisition

Prior research on computer-mediated discussions examined their effects on knowledge acquisition without considering the role of the discussion representation. In this study, we investigate and compare the effect of semantic network discussion representations on knowledge acquisition to that of the threaded representations featured in most traditional discussion forums. Furthermore, we identify, define and operationalize a new, i.e., conceptual facilitation (validation of the conceptual organization of the discussion), assessing its role in knowledge acquisition at different levels of restrictiveness. The empirical results of a field experiment indicate that semantic network discussion representations enable the acquisition of more complex and better-integrated knowledge structures than threaded discussion representations. Conceptual facilitation forms entailing different levels of restrictiveness are also found to play a significant role. As the level of conceptual facilitation restrictiveness decreases, knowledge acquisition improves. Our findings empirically demonstrate the importance of accounting for discussion representation as a contingency factor in explaining group discussion processes and outcomes. To practitioners, our study provides empirical evidence on the advantages of semantic networks over threaded representations as an alternative mode for computer-mediated discussion representations. We also suggest guidelines for the selection of appropriate conceptual facilitation for discussion forums intended for knowledge acquisition.