Key considerations for logic model development in research partnerships: a Canadian case study

Community-academic partnership research is a fairly new genre of community-based participatory research. It has arisen in part, from recognition of the potential role of alliances in the development and translation of applied knowledge and the elimination of health disparities. This paper reports on the learning process of academic and community members who worked together in developing a logic model for a research program focusing on partnerships with vulnerable populations. The Partners in Community Health Research is a 6-year training program that seeks to combine research, training, and practice through the work of its "learning clusters". As these types of partnerships proliferate, the articulation and exploration of clear models will assist in their implementation. The authors, coming from both academia and community agencies, present a logic model meant to facilitate program management. Key considerations in the model's development are discussed in the context of an ongoing research partnership; namely, the complexity of the research partnership, power and accountability, alignment with health promotion policy, and the iterative nature of program design. Recommendations challenge academics, policy-makers, service providers, and community members to reflect on the elements needed to support and manage research partnerships and the tools necessary to ensure continued collaboration.     

理想雇主"长"什么样?

民企、外企、国企?事业单位、国家机关?哪类企业是你最想进入的?你眼中的理想雇主需要具备哪些潜质?在考量哪几个方面后,你才会认为这是一家值得选择的企业呢?为此,前程无忧专程采访了一些学生代表、社会人士和企业方,看看他们心中认同的理想雇主究竟"长"什么样?     

An evaluation u-turn: From narrow organisational objectives to broad accountability

The development of evaluation scholarship progresses, but the slow and incremental steps taken are largely refinements on a direction of thinking that has become established and virtually taken for granted. Most frameworks and models which have gained recognition in the academy and practice follow programme logic methodology. They also point to the achievement of organisational objectives as being the principal, but not always sole, purpose of public relations programmes. The achievement of organisational objectives has therefore been the focus of evaluation.Parallel, to this, a second strand of thinking in the scholarship and practice has questioned the assumption that the meeting of organisational objectives is paramount and whether organisations alone should determine the measures of success. Other perspectives such as stakeholder judgements of success and the obligation of organisations to meet societal expectations have been discussed as legitimate ways in which to evaluate programmes and activities.This paper takes forward this second strand by proposing that the evaluation debate should be ‘flipped’. Instead of organisational objectives being a primary denominator for evaluation, the paper proposes that whether organisations discharge their accountabilities to stakeholders and society is of equal, if not more weight. An organisation will succeed only if it sustains its licence to operate. To achieve that it has to meet the reasonable expectations that licence-givers have and to obtain their active consent to support its actions. The key questions for public relations are therefore: who/what holds us to account? What are their expectations? How are their expectations fulfilled? Drawing on the management and public relations literature to answer these questions, the paper calls for a radical ‘turn’ from the prevailing thinking, which the authors suggest is more about public relations explaining and justifying itself, towards a model that aligns with contemporary management thinking and practice.The paper proposes a model and process that provides a way forwards based not only on organisational aspirations, but on a hierarchy of obligations: to society, stakeholders, the organisation, and to the professional function which runs campaigns. It offers a principles based evaluation approach. In doing so, it takes the evaluation debate in a new direction and thereby adds to theory-building. It also offers a new way forwards for the practice which has become increasingly mired in developing more comprehensive lists of indicators and metrics and expanding taxonomies of evaluation terms.     

Spontaneous plant colonization and bird visits of tropical extensive green roof

Green roofs can contribute to enrichment and conservation of urban ecology. An experimental green roof was established in humid-tropical Hong Kong to monitor over two years its spontaneous colonization by plants and bird visits. Some 94 voluntary vascular plant species from 26 families and 76 genera were established, with propagules brought mainly by birds and wind and secondarily inherited from soil seed bank. Plant species composition changed dynamically during the study period. They fall into three groups, namely dominant ruderal (herbaceous and sub-shrub) as surrogate of early-stage local grassland ecosystem succession, arboreal (trees and shrubs), and hygrophilous herb. Progressive increase in vegetation cover was accompanied by changes in species diversity and evenness. In addition, 16 bird species from 8 families and 14 genera were recorded. Ten species were residents and the six migrant species were winter visitors. Their food preference was mainly omnivore and insectivore. Winter and the second year encountered higher species richness, diversity, and evenness. Most vegetation parameters correlated positively with avian community indexes, signifying provision of sustenance by green-roof ecosystem to birds. Vegetation coverage correlated negatively with avian abundance, due to shunning by the abundant ground-foraging Tree Sparrow. Both local common ruderal plant species and common urban bird species can successfully establish and reproduce on the extensive green roof, confirming potentials for urban ecology and biodiversity enhancement and conservation even in densely-developed urban areas. The successful nurturing of naturalistic green roof offers new opportunities for green roof design that deviates from the predominant cultivated-horticultural approach.     

Empirical characteristic function tests for GARCH innovation distribution using multipliers

Goodness-of-fit tests for the innovation distribution in GARCH models based on measuring deviations between the empirical characteristic function of the residuals and the characteristic function under the null hypothesis have been proposed in the literature. The asymptotic distributions of these test statistics depend on unknown quantities, so their null distributions are usually estimated through parametric bootstrap (PB). Although easy to implement, the PB can become very computationally expensive for large sample sizes, which is typically the case in applications of these models. This work proposes to approximate the null distribution through a weighted bootstrap. The procedure is studied both theoretically and numerically. Its asymptotic properties are similar to those of the PB, but, from a computational point of view, it is more efficient.     

Taking a Chance? The Risks Associated with Going Missing from Substitute Care

This paper reports on a study of over 200 young people going missing from residential and foster care in four local authorities. The proportion of young people missing from residential care was high, ranging from 25 to 71% of all 11 – 16‐year‐olds in mainstream children’s homes. Two types of absence were identified: the ‘runaways’ profile (those who ran away or stayed out) and the ‘friends’ profile (those missing to be with friends). There were variations in levels of risk for different sub‐groups within the sample. Risks included immediate risks of victimization, sexual exploitation (including prostitution), offending and substance misuse. A longer‐term risk of detachment was identified among those going missing often, involving high levels of non‐school attendance, detachment from carers and involvement in offending and in substance misuse. Difficulties in the assessment of risk are discussed and approaches to managing risk for young people who go missing from substitute care are explored. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

满意度调查的流程

旅游者的期望和旅游地的实际绩效间的差距越小;旅游者的满意度才会越高。旅游业是非常典型的服务性行业,它的特点是销售给旅游者一种独特的“经历”。随着旅游者的日渐成熟,旅游者的期望和旅游地的实际绩效(表现)之间往往存在着一个差距。这一差距越小,旅游者的满意度才会越高,旅游者     

Sector Approaches,Sustainable Livelihoods and Rural Poverty Reduction

This article examines the relationship between sector‐wide approaches (SWAps), sustainable livelihoods approaches (SLAs) and rural poverty reduction. The authors suggest that SLAs provide one means by which SWAps can focus more effectively on poverty reduction, whilst SWAps provide an entry point via which government and donor initiatives can be made supportive of the livelihoods of the poor. The article puts forward guidelines indicating the core issues upon which donors should focus to enhance the poverty impact of sector‐wide approaches.