Inappropriate Comparisons: The LGB Population's Missing Reference Group

ABSTRACT

Given that many professional organizations emphasize the need for comparing assessment results to appropriate reference groups in their codes of ethics, we consider this practice through an ecological perspective as it applies to the lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) population. The purpose of norming and types of assessment bias is discussed with respect to LGB population, which frequently lack specific norming data. The authors discuss whether the LGB population has characteristics similar to other commonly normed for groups and explore how group-shared constructs such as minority stress and internalized homophobia may introduce bias and affect the validity of assessments. A social anxiety assessment as well as a personality disorder inventory are examined for bias as case examples explaining how these assessments may exhibit bias when used with the LGB population. Increases in validity and effects on treatment planning are discussed as benefits of providing LGB-specific norms. Risks of providing these norms, such as minimizing subgroup differences and possibly increasing the risk of discrimination are also addressed before providing clinicians with recommendations as to how they may minimize the risk of bias in their assessment process.     

西部民族地区旅游生态补偿政策实施的实践探索

The ethnic regions of Western Chi￣na are rich in ecological and cultural tourism re￣sources. At the same time, the regions are also ec￣ologically vulnerable areas with large populations of ethnic groups who have lived for a long time in poverty. Based on years’ investigation, it is obvi￣ous that tourism development, even though it can promote local economic development, has had a significant negative impact on the ecology, envi￣ronment and local communities. During the 18 th and 17 th National Congresses of the Communist Pary of China, a policy was announced to improve ecological compensation and accelerate the estab￣lishment of an ecological compensation mecha￣nism. So far, both government and academia have mainly focused on the effects and necessities of building a mechanism for ecological compensation. Of special concern, even if governments at all lev￣els sequentially enacted a series of policie with cer￣tain characteristics of ecological compensation, the public is still questioning the impartiality and legit￣imacy of the charges of such policy of ecological compensation. Thus, the task of implementing the ecological compensation policy faces many obsta￣cles. At present, the core research issue on eco￣logical compensation is no longer just the question of why it should be charged. This question was al￣ready clearly stated in official documents from cen￣tral government. Up to now, the core issues that need clarification are:in practice, how the charge be made; what amount of money should be charged;how will the revenue from the charge be used;how will the revenue derived from the charge be audited; and whether or not this charge can help to achieve government objectives in such a way.
Based on the unique background of the ethnic regions of Western China, this paper deeply analy￣ses issues of implementing policies such as ecologi￣cal compensation for tourism, including the illegi￣bility and legitimacy of who should pay, how much should be paid, and how to manage the funds im￣partially; and providing scientific and reasonable countermeasures to solve these practical problems. Compared with other industries, the tourism indus￣try became the pioneer for the practice of ecologi￣cal compensation as well as the research objective of ecological compensation studies. Some research￣ers defined ecological compensation for tourism as a system of regulating related ecological interests to protect the ecosystems of tourism destinations and promote sustainable development of the tourism in￣dustry ( Zhang Yiqun, Yang Guihua, 2012 ) . Al￣though such a definition is still fuzzy, at least it in￣dicates that the research of ecological compensation for tourism involves interdisciplinary fields inclu￣ding Economics, Sociology, Ecology and Tourism, etc. Currently, the research of ecological compen￣sation for tourism has insufficient first hand empiri￣cal research data. At the same time it has not yet had nationwide impact, either domestically or over￣seas. The research on implementing policies for the ecological compensation of tourism is at an early stage in China.
Obviously, it is hard to find sufficient re￣search results or research methods for reference, which brings certain limitations to this paper. To demonstrate the scope of this study, this paper de￣fined tourism ecological compensation as exploring the feasibility of spending fiscal revenue ( paid by tourism enterprises, tourists or other stakeholders) on protecting natural ecological environment. Based on this definition, this paper generated three actual issues with regard to implementing policies of ecological compensation for tourism, including the vagueness of the charge, the lack of unified, standard levies, and the non-tranparency of fund management. Combined with analyzing the current special background of implementing policies of ec￣ological compensation for tourism in the ethnic re￣gions of Western China, and by especially empha￣sizing the local communities of the ethnic groups who should be compensated, this paper tries to provide scientific and reasonable countermeasures consisting of implementing corresponding national policy, formulating correlated policy in accordance with local conditions and standardizing and institu￣tionalizing fund management. This paper not only attempts to support strongly implementing policies of ecological compensation for tourism at the insti￣tutional level, but also to coordinate the contradic￣tions between tourism development and ecological protection, and local community self - develop￣ment, hoping to achieve the win-win objectives of promoting an ecological compensation policy for tourism, tourism poverty alleviation and ecological civilization.     

Late Adapters? How Social Workers Acquire Knowledge and Skills About Technology Tools

Little is understood about the scope of information and communication technology (ICT) use in practice for agency-based social work professionals, and still less is known about how such practitioners acquire and avail themselves of opportunities to learn about ICT tools. This study asked a sample of social work field supervisors (n?=?371) to describe their personal and professional ICT use, to rank the technological sophistication of their agency, to describe the barriers and facilitators to ICT use in their organizations and to operationalize environmental opportunities for acquiring new skills and knowledge. The authors examine factors that may influence technology use: asking if organizational culture is related to uptake in the professional context, and if self-reported individual resistance to innovation and change can explain voluntary adoption of ICT tools. The results offer a portrait of how agency-based social workers are using technology in personal and professional life, describe how these supervisors learn about developing technologies for practice, and highlight the gaps in technology infrastructures among agencies, pointing to directions for further exploration.     

江苏省宿迁市耕地生态足迹初探

运用生态足迹模型和相关统计年鉴数据,计算了宿迁市2006年的耕地生态足迹。结果表明：2006年宿迁市耕地生态足迹为0.73332hm2/人,而耕地生态承载力为0.38504hm2/人,生态赤字为0.34828hm2/人,这说明宿迁市的耕地利用已经超出了生态承载力的范围,处于不可持续发展的状态。     

社会主义生态文明建设的重要内容: 生态消费模式

当前,我国消费伴随着经济的快速发展日益被异化为“病态式消费”模式,这使得国民经济的协调发展遭到了严重破坏,甚至生态系统也面临着崩溃的危险。我国新富群体缺乏正确的消费观念,加上西方消费主义影响,引发了诸多的社会问题。实践证明,只有树立正确的消费观念、克制消费欲望、调整消费行为,才能建立生态消费模式,才能符合社会主义生态文明的要求,实现人与自然的协调发展。     

甘肃南部林区族群生存文化的生态人类学研究——以舟曲县3个藏汉村寨为例

甘肃省南部林区属于国家长江上游水土保持重点防治区域,具有非常重要的战略地位。世代居住在这块地方上的藏、汉族群积累了大量与所处环境相适应的生存技能和经验。构筑起与这种生态环境相适应的生存文化,形成了以森林为核心的生态系统与以苯教为核心的生存文化之间的共生关系。在保护当地生态环境、改善类似地区的生态环境、改变同一地区不同族群的生态观念等方面都能发挥作用,具有很强的实用价值,应该进行深入发掘和总结。     

生态农业法律问题研究

自1978年改革开放以来,我国的农业生产由传统的生产方式逐步过渡到现代化农业,农产品产量逐年增高,品种日益丰富,经济作物、反季作物大规模种植,乡镇企业也逐渐摆脱了落后的小作坊式的形态,企业规模扩大,经营范围也越来越广泛,自动化、现代化程度也越来越高。这一系列变化,使得农民收入提高了,农村基础设施完善了,农村经济有了很大的发展,但是同时,也出现了土地退化、水土流失等一系列突出的问题,发展生态农业,建设与完善生态农业法律体系,已经是迫在眉睫的事情。     

四川民族地区旅游资源开发与生态安全保障机制研究

旅游资源开发一直被认为是促进四川、云南、贵州等西部民族地区地方脱贫致富的重要路径,然而过度的资源开发必将直接危及当地生态安全。四川地处长江上游,其民族地区的生态安全状况关系着长江流域以及整个国家的安全。本文从人与自然、人与社会关系的视角,探寻四川民族地区旅游资源开发过程中自然生态环境、民族文化生态环境的生态安全保障机制,以期切实有效地维护社会和谐稳定发展。     

中国传统生命伦理观与生态文明的精神内涵

当代环境问题和生态问题的凸显,使人们对传统的生命伦理观越来越关注,也对生态文明的精神内涵赋予了多样化的解读。中国传统文化向来重视生命的价值,它以贵生的精神看待生命,以仁爱的精神关注生命,并以平等的精神对待宇宙间各个生命的价值,重视对人与自然和谐关系的构建。进一步弘扬中华传统文化中的生命伦理精神,探索其与生态文明精神内涵的本质联系,对和谐社会的建设具有重要意义。