“Koe wai hoki koe?!”, or “Who are you?!”: Issues of trust in cross‐cultural collaborative research

Abstract

Cross‐cultural research designs are increasingly employed in the New Zealand context to investigate a range of complex social and environmental issues. However, there is little guidance for researchers who work for mainstream organisations and hapū (subtribe(s)) and iwi (tribe(s)) on how to undertake cross‐cultural collaborative research. Trust is a key issue that makes cross‐cultural research possible and it is surprising that issues relating to trust have not featured widely in the literature. In this paper, we reflect on our experiences working cross‐culturally and collaboratively with a hapū in Northland, New Zealand. We discuss how a mainstream research organisation worked with a community health trust and developed a working relationship with a hapū, forming the basis of a community‐driven collaborative evaluation of a central government‐funded project. Key findings were the establishment of a tuākana‐tēina relationship (where teacher and learner are interchangeable) between the members of the collaborative research team and the employment of appropriate research methods to develop a research agenda that ensured everyone would benefit from the research.     

Ecological factors associated with elder abuse in Taiwan: a systematic review

Elder abuse is a serious issue in Taiwan because of rapid growth among the aging population and the deterioration of traditional values. Understanding of elder abuse in Taiwan has been fragmented, as a bulk of studies have primarily focused on socio-demographic characteristics and past childhood abuse. Only a handful of studies have focused on the environmental contexts. To address this research gap, we systematically review the prevalence, socio-demographic characteristics, and risk factors associated with elder abuse in Taiwan by applying Bronfenbrenner's ecological framework. Twenty-nine research articles are reviewed to address this research gap. Practice and policy implications are also discussed.     

Grandparent Carers II

Summary

A demonstration project was undertaken in two of New York City's five boroughs using an intervention model to assess how a three-prong approach using outreach, provision of support groups, and case management could be used to aid grandparents acting as primary carers for children with developmental delay or disabilities. Three small community-based agencies participated in the demonstration. Several common themes were identified that warrant attention when working with older adults who assume later-age parenting roles: (1) recruitment, (2) pressing grandparent problems, (3) unresponsive service systems, (4) falling between the cracks, (5) mutual support, and (6) need for long-term planning.     

A multicriteria decision analysis model for faculty evaluation

In the context of increasing demands for social and financial accountability of universities, the required implementation of transparent faculty evaluation systems constitutes a challenge and an opportunity for universities strategically aligning the activity of academic staff with the university goals. However, despite growing interest in the performance appraisal of faculty, only a few reported studies propose models that cover the full range of academic activities and the models in use are typically based on ad hoc scoring systems that lack theoretical soundness. This article approaches faculty evaluation from an innovative comprehensive perspective. Based on the concepts and methods of multiple criteria value measurement, it proposes a new faculty evaluation model that addresses the whole range of academic activities and can be applied within and across distinct scientific areas, while respecting their specificities. Constructed through a socio-technical process, the model was designed for and adopted by the Instituto Superior Técnico, the engineering school of the Technical University of Lisbon. The model has a two-level hierarchical additive structure, with top-level evaluation areas specified by second-level evaluation criteria. A bottom non-additive third level accounts for the quantitative and qualitative dimensions of academic activity related to each evaluation criterion. The model allows (a) the comparison of the performance of academic staff with performance targets reflecting the strategic policy concerns of university management; (b) the definition of the multicriteria value profile of each faculty member at the top level of the evaluation areas; (c) the computation of an overall value score for each faculty member, through an optimisation procedure that makes use of a flexible system of weights and (d) the assignment of faculty members to rating categories.     

长三角地区节能减排演化情景分析及预测

以长三角地区经济发展为基础,综合考虑该地区能源环境现状。基于节能减排动态演化模型,结合情景分析法对长三角地区2015年经济产值、能源消耗及污染排放进行预测,并分析2009～2015年经济产值、能源消耗及污染排放演化情况。旨在为未来长三角地区实施节能减排策略,实现可持续发展提供理论依据。     

多重不确定环境下基于证据理论的NIS安全风险评估模型

以证据理论为基础,构造一种能够适应多重不确定环境的网络信息系统安全风险评估模型。在模型中建立安全风险评估指标体系并对指标权重进行量化;重新定义基本概率赋值函数,以适应安全风险评估过程中证据的不确定性描述;实现证据一致性检验并确定调整方法,从而进一步降低评估过程中专家经验的不确定性;最后,通过实证分析验证该模型的正确性和有效性。     

大股东股权制衡与董事会制度创新研究

现有的上市公司董事会存在独立性不强、运作效率低、缺乏有效的制约和考评激励机制等诸多问题。在董事会的监督效率和董事会决策绩效的约束条件下,通过构建模型采用比较研究方法,分析相对集中的股权结构和多个大股东相互制衡性股权结构对中国上市公司董事会制度的影响。大股东相互制衡的股权结构使董事会成员间相互制衡,有利于提高董事会监督效率和决策绩效,是中国公司治理中董事会制度创新的方向。     

创新型中小企业成长性评价与预测研究——基于我国创业板上市公司数据

创新型中小企业成长对经济增长、创新国家建设有重要的作用,科学评价其成长性有助于为规范和促进它们实现快速发展创造条件提供依据。在已有研究基础上,结合创新型中小企业主要特征,提出了创新型中小企业成长性评价体系。然后以我国创业板上市公司为样本,初步对企业成长性进行检验与评价。在此基础上,运用神经网络方法构建了创新型中小企业成长性预测模型。进而根据分析结果揭示导致企业成长主要差异原因,并提出了一些促进企业成长的建议。