Science as a service: understanding successful knowledge transfer in a New Zealand research institute

This paper reports on an exercise conducted within a state-owned body (Crown Research Institute) in New Zealand aimed at building greater understanding of the key factors in successful research programmes. Success was defined in this study as a high level of uptake of the emerging science, with commensurate benefits to both industry and the community. The methodology had three parts. A review of the knowledge and technology transfer literature; a series of 15 semi-structured interviews with science leaders; and a facilitated workshop. The purpose of the review was to generate a robust framework upon which to centre the interview dialogues, and two models were selected. The results varied, reflecting the diversity of research services provided by the organization, but the findings were predominantly new and valuable. The importance of the long term relationship with the end users was the strongest recurring theme. The methodology may have wider application in both research and consulting settings; for the benefits derived from the interactive process with staff, as well as for the specific findings.     

Well London: Results of a Community Engagement Approach to Improving Health Among Adolescents from Areas of Deprivation in London

This article reports findings among adolescents of the impact of Well London, a program of wellbeing interventions delivered across 20 deprived neighbourhoods of London using a community engagement model. Twelve hundred and fifty-four adolescents were surveyed from matched intervention and control areas. There was no significant intervention effect on the main outcome measures: unhealthy eating, physical activity, and mental health. Factors influencing the results may include the possibility that the communities defined by the cluster randomized controlled trial (CRCT) were not an accurate reflection of the adolescent’s natural community, and interactions within the school environment in particular could have led to a dilution of effect.     

Dimensions of child neglect: an exploration of parental neglect and its relationship with delinquency

While neglect is generally associated with poor developmental outcomes, it remains poorly defined. Factor analysis was applied to 39 parental behavior variables on data from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD) to explore underlying dimensions of parental behavior that were consistent with the concept of neglect. Logistic regression assessed associations between the dimensions of neglect recovered from the CSDD and future adult delinquency. Factor analysis revealed four dimensions; logistic regression revealed significant associations between two of these dimensions--poor supervision and a disorganized, chaotic home environment--and future adult delinquency. Neglect is a viable construct that can summarize aspects of parental behavior and predict future adult delinquency.     

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF PRIORITY SCHEDULING IN A BANK CHECK PROCESSING OPERATION

This paper reports on a simulation study which was undertaken to determine if float could be significantly reduced by altering a bank's check-processing priority assignments. Float, the dollar value of check payments not yet collected from parent banks, represents a significant opportunity cost in terms of lost interest income to receiving banks. The study consisted of a comparison of a major city bank's present checksorting decision rules based on minimization of check handling, versus a proposed sorting scheme based on dollar magnitudes of checks. The reults of the research indicated that float could be substantially reduced and interest income increased by employing the proposed priority of scheduting rules.     

Access to homeownership among immigrant groups in Canada

Ces dernières années l'intéret s'est accru pour les expériences des immigrants après leur arrivée dans la societé nord-américaine. Dans cet article, nous argumentons le fait que le logement, et plus spécifiquement le bail, est un sujet important bien que largement négligé en ce qui concerne la vie de l'immigrant dans la société canadienne. En utilisant des chiffres du recensement de 1986 et la structure des modèles log-linéaires, nous examinons les baux des logements des immigrants dans les différentes régions du Canada. On argumente que les immigrants sont différenciés par la culture, le temps et l'espace en ce qui concerne le bail, avec des immigrants plus récents, particuliérement ceux qui arrivent des pays en voie de développement, qui ont des taux de propriété particulierement plus bas.
In recent years interest has grown in the post-arrival experiences of immigrants in North American society. In this paper we argue that housing, and more specifically tenure, is an important, though largely neglected, issue with respect to immigrant life in Canadian society. Using data from the 1986 census and a log-linear modelling framework, we examine housing tenure among immigrants in the regions of Canada. It is argued that immigrants are a culturally, temporally and spatially differentiated sub-population in regard to tenure, with more recent immigrants, especially those from the Developing World, having substantially lower rates of homeownership.     

Dignity Strategies in a Neoliberal Workfare Kitchen Training Program

Welfare-to-work training (workfare) programs are designed to technically and affectively prepare marginalized people for jobs that are often routinized and dirty. They are expected to accept personal responsibility for their situation and demonstrate submission to bosses as means of “working off” their “debt” to society. Ethnographic observation at workfare training sites has tended to emphasize the indignities that trainees suffer, with less attention to how workers maintain dignity in the face of these experiences. Using ethnographic observation and interviews in a Chicago workfare kitchen training program, we show that neoliberal kitchen training work encompasses paradoxical expectations for trainee-workers; they must demonstrate high levels of discretion and creativity required in professional kitchen work and demonstrate submission to charismatic authority as a means of getting kitchen work done and of affective compliance with the goals of the program. To combat the direct efforts of others to produce indignities, trainees developed two dignity strategies that are highly dependent on the structure of kitchen work: operating in a slipstream, and banking confidence that allows them to take liberties normally allowed for chef-trainers. These findings contribute to sociological understandings of workplace dignity, a privilege that has been especially elusive for the poor under welfare-to-work programs.     

Navigating employability from the bottom up

ABSTRACT

Research focusing on young people’s career trajectories has emphasised ‘graduate employability’ with much less attention being afforded to the employability strategies used by disadvantaged youth, including the social, political and labour market contexts in which these emerge. This study explores how young people enrolled in entry-level, vocational training courses in Australia attempt to enhance their employability. Interviews explored perceptions of individual employability, the strategies utilised to improve employability, and the economic, personal and employment consequences of these strategies. Three main employability strategies were identified: gaining qualifications to meet employment expectations; securing work experience in a competitive labour market; and addressing economic and social challenges to secure and sustain employment. The study reveals how the dominant narratives of employability in education and employment policy are misaligned with the economic, social and labour market challenges faced by disadvantaged job-seekers with respect to notions of career and ‘fit’ between the individual and the labour market. Policy responses need to take account of the diverse ‘bottom up’ experiences and circumstances of different cohorts of young people.     

Young Maori perceptions of a youth development programme

Abstract

Project K is a youth development programme that targets young people aged 14–15 years with low self-efficacy. It is run by the Foundation for Youth Development. Story-telling style interviews that asked participants to imagine themselves in a reality television show with different ‘episodes’ were conducted with six Maori Project K participants on the effectiveness of the programme and if and how it works with Maori ‘as Maori’. Results suggested the programme used graded mastery, team work and fun to produce positive outcomes. It also had high expectations of participants, coupled with intense support. Participants described the programme as not particularly attending to them ‘as Maori’, which they generally viewed positively. A workshop was held with key programme staff to analyse the results and formulate an action plan to address areas for improvement. Implications for other programmes that involve indigenous youth are outlined.