Self-harm among adolescents with developmental disabilities. What are they trying to tell us?

Self-harm behavior exhibited by adolescents with developmental disabilities can be the most challenging behavior for caregivers and health care professionals to address. Past interventions have taken a behavioral approach and focused on functional analysis to guide assessment and treatment. However, self-harm behavior is becoming more recognized as a means of communication. Therefore, it is important for health care professionals and caregivers to listen to adolescents' attempts to communicate and try to understand the meaning of the behavior. Early assessment is crucial to understanding the meaning of the behavior, and early intervention is necessary to prevent escalation or chronicity. Thorough assessment guides interventions and must be implemented in the context of clients' families and social world, and the broader community. Establishment of trusting relationships among adolescents, their families, and health care professionals is imperative. This article discusses self-harm behavior from a psychosocial perspective related to prevalence, onset, purpose, maintenance, and escalation. It also introduces a comprehensive framework to guide assessment and intervention.     

Trends in marijuana and other illicit drug use among college students: results from 4 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study surveys: 1993-2001

The authors examined changes in college students' illicit drug use, patterns of polydrug use, and the relationship between students' ages of initiation of substance use and later use of marijuana and other illicit drugs between 1993 and 2001. Data from 119 US colleges and universities in the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study were used in the study. They found significant increases in percentages of students' use of marijuana in the past 30 days (from 13% to 17%), past year (from 23% to 30%), and lifetime (from 41% to 47%) between 1993 and 2001, with most of the increase occurring between 1993 and 1997. Past 30-day use of other illicit drugs increased from 4% to 7% and past year use increased from 11% to 14%. More than 98% of marijuana and other illicit drug users used another substance. They also either smoked, were binge drinkers, and/or were users of another illicit drug. Drug prevention programs should emphasize heavy alcohol use and smoking and should start when students are in high school or earlier.     

Meeting summary--cell biology of Parkinson's disease and related neurodegenerative disorders

Parkinsonian disorders (idiopathic Parkinson's disease and clinically similar disorders) are characterized by impaired movements caused by the degeneration of brain centers involved in regulating normal and smooth movements of the body and its extremities. The mechanisms that cause such degeneration are unknown. This Perspective summarizes research described at a meeting held in June 2003, which was organized by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Institute on Aging to provide an update on recent advances in the cell biology of parkinsonian disorders.     

A real option theoretic fuzzy evaluation model for enterprise resource planning investment

The high failure rate of ERP implementation is due to a common pitfall that ERP projects are often enacted as merely investment into installation of IT infrastructure, rather than systematic planning of operation changes, business process re-engineering and a paradigm shift for the operation and management. To manage ERP investment in a changing environment for high payoff, this paper adopts a real option theoretic method. Fuzzy payoff valuation is introduced to deal with uncertainties in order to minimize the risk of failure. The proposed ERP evaluation model is geared towards small and medium enterprises. A case study is presented to validate the proposed fuzzy real options. The results indicate the potential of modeling ERP investment as “Expand”, “Contain” and “Abandon” options in different scenarios. The fuzzy real option model bestows a novel ex-ante cost analysis for justifying ERP investment in the implementation cycle.     

Key personality traits of engineers for innovation and technology development

Focusing on new roles of engineers for technological innovation and internal entrepreneurship, we examined the personality traits of 4876 engineers versus 75,892 non-engineers. Engineers scored higher on Tough-Mindedness and Intrinsic Motivation; but lower on Assertiveness, Conscientiousness, Customer Service Orientation, Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Image Management, Optimism, Visionary Style, and Work Drive. All but four of these traits were positively related to engineers’ career satisfaction. Overall, the results are not encouraging for the new roles of engineers such as intrapreneurship. Findings were discussed in terms of occupational profiling of engineers as well as career planning, selection, training, and professional development of engineers.     

A high-quality-supplier selection model for supply chain management and ISO 9001 system

Supplier selection process for supply chain management (SCM) and ISO 9001 quality management system environments is considered. Determining suitable suppliers in the supply chain has become a key strategic consideration. However, the nature of these decisions is usually complex and unstructured. This paper proposes a high-quality-supplier selection (HQSS) model to deal with supplier selection problems in supply chain management. In selecting a supplier, quality management factors are considered first, and then price, delivery, etc. Quality management factors include a quality management audit, product testing, engineering work force, capability index, training time, etc., based on a five-interval scale. Next, the HQSS model determines the final solution by considering factors such as price, production lead-time, and delivery time.     

奖金激励与学术成果——来自浙江大学SCI论文奖励效果的证据

本文利用浙江大学的数据,讨论奖金激励对高校论文产出的影响.浙大在1999、2003和2005年做了学术激励机制改革,对SCI论文按影响因子大小分区和分等,对在高影响因子的SCI期刊发表论文给予相对更高的奖励.其后,浙江大学教师发表的高水平SCI论文的数量和比例出现显著的增加.进一步分析后发现,浙大学术生产力的提升,并不是由于浙江大学引进了更多“高水平”学者,而是因为激励制度产生了效果.本文的发现,对高校的管理机制改革,有现实指导意义.     

Dimensions and design criteria for developing training reaction evaluations

Although there is research on training program evaluation, there is little systematic research on the design, development and use of training reaction evaluations. In order to obtain meaningful information from a program evaluation, evaluation professionals must be rigorous in the design and development of all aspects of an evaluation study, including instrumentation. The purposes of the study were to classify the dimensions of information sought using reaction evaluations and to establish design criteria for developing training reaction instruments. There were three major phases of the study: (1) classification of the dimensions and questionnaire design criteria used in reaction evaluations; (2) validation of the classified dimensions and the questionnaire design criteria by subject matter experts; and (3) assessment of a sample of training reaction instruments currently used in training programs in US corporations. The research findings were: eleven dimensions for reaction evaluation were identified and classified by purpose. Five overall design criteria, each consisting of several sub-criteria, were judged important in the design of reactionnaires. These include: introduction and directions; question format; question construction; questionnaire layout; and data analysis. It was concluded that a well-designed training reaction instrument integrates the proper application of design criteria with appropriate reaction dimensions. Most training reaction instruments used by US corporations consisted of questions representing only a few dimensions. The instruments varied in form and length. Few of them properly utilized the established questionnaire design criteria.     

Measuring Sharedness of Team-Related Knowledge: Design and Validation of a Shared Mental Model Instrument

Many researchers have explored how people share and construct similar mental models in teams. They have claimed that successful team performance depends on a shared mental model of team members about task, team, equipment and situation. Most of the literature has illustrated simplified relationships between a team's mental model and their performance without a valid instrument addressing the confined and relevant constructs of a shared mental model. This paper describes the instrument development steps and the conceptual framework for factors associated with shared mental models. After development and refinement, the instrument was finalized for use to measure team-related knowledge. The final instrument consists of 42 items that are linked to the five emergent factors of shared mental models including general task and team knowledge, general task and communication skills, attitude toward teammates and task, team dynamics and interactions, and team resources and working environment.