The urban-rural interface: Urbanization and tropical forest cover change

A considerable body of empirical and theoretical literature on the causes of tropical deforestation has emerged over the last twenty years. Recognizing that small-farmers in the Amazon Basin are a key agent in the process of primary forest conversion, a growing genre of studies at the household level have attempted to quantify the influence of various factors on small-farmer land-use decisions. Many of these studies have acknowledged the seeming importance of urban centers as hubs of propulsive activity and information, yet none have comprehensively captured the urbanization factor in rural land use decisions. I argue that this methodological shortcoming in empirical work to-date reflects an inadequate conceptualization of the range of urban-based networks and their inter-relationships. In an effort to overcome this roadblock to further empirical discovery, I review several leading schools of thought that might be pressed into service in developing a framework for interpreting the urban influences on rural landscapes. I call this construct the Urban-Rural Interface. This is not a complete theoretical model or a unique methodology, but rather an initial effort to develop a general framework from which more sophisticated formulations might proceed.     

Testing a new model of mentoring

Mentoring programs are effective only when mentors become significant adults in the lives of youth. Mentors who achieve this status provide support that helps youth develop important psychological and behavioral assets, such as self-esteem and the ability to cope, thus promoting healthy adjustment. These processes are evident in findings of an evaluation of outcomes in a Big Brothers Big Sisters of America program.     

A stakeholder perspective on process improvement behaviours: delivering the triple bottom line in SMEs

Abstract

The primary focus of operations management is to add value through operational processes. Considerable attention has been given to using process improvement (PI) techniques to reduce costs and time, in order to develop a competitive advantage for the wider organization. However, this narrow definition of value at times overlooks the triple bottom line (TBL) which can result in a number of unintended consequences, specifically issues related to environmental and social measures of performance. To address this, a stakeholder theory lens will be used to analyze PI activities within the context of small and medium-sized enterprises. The TBL will be used to complement the stakeholder perspective, to interpret the benefits that are realized from PI activities. This article highlights both the direct benefits from PI as well as more indirect benefits realized by involving a selection of salient stakeholders in PI. It will show how a developed view of PI can provide an important mechanism for delivering improvements to a firm’s TBL. The work concludes by highlighting the contributions made to both PI practice and stakeholder theory, while acknowledging the need for more research on PI, both from a stakeholder perspective and how it impacts a firm’s TBL.     

Accounting for the man-information interface in management information systems

A primary cause for the failure of both formal and informal management information systems to live up to expectations stems from the designer's lack of awareness or improper conception of the interfaces existing between information and man, its user. This underscores the need for a better understanding of the relationship between man, psychologically and sociologically, and information. The results of several experiments performed in a simulated financial setting are presented as illustrations of human information processing tendencies in both individuals and committees. Design options to attenuate human foibles and limitations and to counterveil propensities to subvert systems are discussed. Areas for further research are suggested.     

A Note on Analysing Time Series Data which Accumulate Over Unequal Observation Intervals

The problem of analysing flow series observed over unequal periods of time is discussed, and a suggestion is made for dealing with situations where the lengths of the periods follow a simple pattern     

The free rider argument for compulsory union dues

This paper examines the free rider argument for compulsory union dues. The contemporary theory of collective goods does not support the union argument because a free rider problem is not a sufficient condition to rationalize the private use of coercion. The paper evaluates quantitative data on union security and applies the theory of local public goods to union services. The focus is on efficiency aspects of security arrangements.     

New evidence on the value of birth expectations

Past national surveys regarding birth expectations have usually been restricted to currently married women, a fact which has led demographers to question the usefulness of these data. Because the June 1976 Current Population Survey includes the expectations of all women in a cohort regardless of marital status, it provides the data needed to evaluate biases due to restricted survey universes. At older ages, where there are substantial differences in lifetime expectations between currently married and single women, there are relatively few single women; at younger ages, however, where the proportion of single women in a cohort is relatively large, the differences in expectations are small. This counterbalancing effect makes the lifetime birth expectations of currently married women a close approximation of all women in a cohort. The analysis also indicates that the observed intracohort declines in lifetime birth expectations since 1967 were due largely to the addition at subsequent survey dates of previously unmarried women; nevertheless, some “true” cohort declines also seem to have occurred.     

RESPONSE RATES AND QUALITY OF DATA: A RE-EXAMINATION OF THE MAIL QUESTIONNAIRE*

Traditionnellement, dans les sciences sociales on a été préoccupé par les techniques destinées à accoître les taux de réponse aux questionnaires distribués par la poste. Ce n'est que rarement qu'on a essayé de déterminer si des taux de réponse élevés avait une relation avec la qualité des données obtenues. Si on considère les taux de réponse d'envinon 60 pour cent obtenus dans les enquêtes faites par entrevues par les centres de recherche commerciaux, on doit réexaminer le problème de l'utilisation des questionnaires en voyés par la poste comme une alternative, même si on ne prend pas en considération la grande différence de coût par sujet entre les entrevues et les questionnaires envoyés par la poste. Dans la recherche discutée ici, le même questionnaire a été envoyé par la poste, dans des conditions différentes, à trois échantillons tirés au hasard. Le taux de réponse pour les trois Cchantillons variaient de 33 à 48 pour cent, mais les données obtenues dans chaque échantillon étaient pratiquement équivalentes. Pour controler ce resultat, un questionnaire semblable a été envoyéà un échantillon tiré d'une autre population. Le taux de réponse à ce questionnaire était juste inférieur à 90 pour cent, mais les données obtenues des premiers et des derniers sujets étaient généralement équivalentes. Traditionally, social scientists have been preoccupied with techniques for increasing response rates to mail questionnaires. Only rarely have there been attempts to ascertain whether high response rates are related to the quality of data obtained. Given current completion rates of about 60 per cent for interviews by commercial survey research centres, the issue of using mail questionnaires as an alternative data-gathering technique requires re-examination, even apart from any consideration of the wide differential between interviews and mail questionnaires in cost per respondent. In the current research, the same questionnaire was mailed under varying conditions to three independent random samples. The response rates for the three samples varied from 33 to 48 percent, but the data obtained from each sample were basically equivalent. As a further check on this finding, an overlapping questionnaire was sent to a sample from another population. The response rate to this questionnaire was just under 90 per cent, but the data from earlier and later respondents were generally equivalent.