Using process data to explain outcomes. An illustration from the Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health (CATCH)

The purpose of this article is to illustrate the use of process evaluation for understanding study outcomes. Data from the Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health (CATCH), a large school-based field trial, are used. Teacher characteristics, measures of classroom curriculum implementation, and competing influences are linked to changes in dietary knowledge, intentions, and self-efficacy of students in the intervention schools. Multiple regression analyses indicate that teacher characteristics did not predict program implementation. Teacher characteristics and program fidelity, or the number of modifications made to the classroom curriculum during implementation, had direct and independent effects on student outcomes.     

Some considerations on the validity of evidence-based practice in social work

Summary This paper considers the validity of evidence-based practicein social work. It critically examines various underlying presuppositionsand assumptions entailed in evidence-based practice and drawsout their implications for social work. The paper is dividedinto three main parts. Following a consideration of the backgroundto the development of evidence-based practice and a discussionof its key organizing concepts, the paper goes on to examineits underlying scientific assumptions. It shows that evidence-basedpractice proposes a particular deterministic version of rationalitywhich is unsatisfactory. Evidence-based practice is derivedfrom ideas based on optimal behavior in a planned and systematicallyorganized environment. By concentrating on 'epistemic processes'involved in planning and psychological inference it is claimedthat cognitive heuristic devices are the determinants of decisionmaking and not evidence. The heuristic model suggests that decisionmaking is indeterminate, reflexive, locally optimal at bestand based on a limited rationality. It is argued that socialworkers engage in a reflexive understanding and not a determinateor certainty based decision-making process based on objectiveevidence. Complex phenomena such as decision making are notrationally determined or subject to 'control'. The paper goeson to suggest that the tendency to separate processes into 'facts'and 'values' implicit in evidence-based procedures underminesprofessional judgement and discretion in social work. The thirdpart of the paper focuses on the connection between method andideology in evidence-based practice. It examines how the evidence-basedpreoccupation with positivistic methods and determinate judgemententraps social workers within a mechanistic for of technicalrationality. This framework restricts social work to a narrowends-means rationality such that only certain forms of actionare considered legitimate. This feeds into the rhetoric of newmanagerialist strategies aimed at developing a performance cultureby further regulating and controlling individual practitioners.In the conclusion a number of critical indicators are givenwhich should be addressed by the proponents of evidence-basedpractice. It is suggested that unless these are adequately dealtwith, social work is not greatly advanced by adherence to anevidence-based approach. Moreover, the problematic epistemologicaland ideological base associated with it are to be regarded asinherently insuperable.     

蒙古族自然观对现代环境保护的启示

蒙古族先民们在长期的游牧生活中创造了辉煌的草原文化。蒙古族草原文化中的自然观是一种内在的回归自然、追求朴素的生态伦理观。也正是在这种自然观的引导下,草原自然环境长期以来得以保持其原貌——蓝天、碧草、清水、净土。蒙古族草原文化的自然观既符合当代人热爱优美环境,渴望实现人与自然和谐发展的美好愿望,又对治理和保护目前日益恶化的人类生存环境具有重要的启示作用。     

Spatial patterns of female Ailanthus altissima across an urban-to-rural land use gradient

Ailanthus altissima is an invasive, dioecious deciduous tree common at the interface between urban and rural areas in the mid-Atlantic region, U.S.A. To examine spatial patterns of abundance and associations with land use type, we mapped all mature female trees in nine 89.5 ha plots (805.5 ha total area) across a typical urban-to-rural land use gradient using aerial images obtained via remote sensing supplemented by detailed ground referencing. Rural plots were dominated by forest and had the lowest density of mature females (0.007 females ha⁻¹); urban and suburban plots did not differ significantly in mean density (0.37 females ha⁻¹ vs. 0.34 females ha⁻¹, respectively). Individuals in urban plots were more evenly distributed, but were not associated with a wider variety of land uses and were closer to roads or openings than those in suburban plots. Given less available habitat per unit area in urban than in suburban environments, these patterns suggest that Ailanthus fits the profile of an invasive species that may be proliferating outward from urban centers. With continued disturbances associated with development in the suburban areas, and timber harvesting in the rural areas, further spread of Ailanthus seems likely.     

Productivity,performance and project management in the scientific instrument industry

Scientific instruments have short product lifecycles and a lengthening of the time between design and application has serious financial implications. This paper reports on research aimed at obtaining a greater understanding of the factors which influence this interface. Interviews were conducted at 32 companies in two countries, the United Kingdom (UK) and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). The study showed that there are statistically significant differences between the two countries and that in the FRG there are also differences between projects led by people with different qualifications and background experience. These differences are analysed and discussed and factors identified which influence productivity and performance in the scientific instrument industry.     

将精读教学与口语教学穿插进行

针对目前公共英语教学中口语教学的不足,笔者在授课过程中发现,以学生为中心,重视语言综合应用能力和学生自学能力的培养为特色的<新编大学英语>教材,成功地将精读教学和口语教学结合起来.教师采用让学生复述故事、上台表演、看图说话和讨论等方式,在精读课上进行口语练习.这种将两者穿插进行的方式,不失为解决口语教学不足的一个良策.     

A methodological approach to strategic petroleum reserves

Energy constitutes a small fraction of the production inputs in the economy, yet the rigidity imposed by the short and medium term inability to substitute energy with other production factors in case of an energy shortage, requires the establishment of safeguard mechanisms to ensure sufficient energy supply during an emergency. These safeguards usually take the form of strategic energy reserves. A methodological approach is presented here, relating the level of strategic petroleum reserves, the decision variable, with the costs associated with their storage and the economic losses incurred by an energy shortage. This approach is based on the use of a decision tree, to portray emergency scenarios. Each scenario, a branch of the decision tree, can be evaluated in terms of a cost function which includes the inventory procurement and maintenance cost and the shortage cost inflicted by a petroleum shortfall.     

简论政府效能与行政文化

政府效能是政府执政能力的外化。影响政府效能的行政文化可分为宏观和微观两个层面，不同层面的行政文化对政府效能有着不同的影响，提高政府效能亦有不同的途径。     

马克思主义哲学的世界性及其中国化

马克思主义哲学的世界性就在于它远远跨越了民族界限、国家界限 ,而成为无与伦比的世界性哲学 ,它在具体表现一个民族的思维特征的同时克服了民族思维的狭隘性 ,因而趋向为带有鲜明共性的世界性思维。马克思主义哲学的中国化正是马克思主义世界性的具体表现。