Lapses,infidelities, and creative adaptations: Lessons from evaluation of a participatory market development approach in the Andes

Participatory approaches are frequently recommended for international development programs, but few have been evaluated. From 2007 to 2010 the Andean Change Alliance evaluated an agricultural research and development approach known as the “Participatory Market Chain Approach” (PMCA). Based on a study of four cases, this paper examines the fidelity of implementation, the factors that influenced implementation and results, and the PMCA change model. We identify three types of deviation from the intervention protocol (lapses, creative adaptations, and true infidelities) and five groups of variables that influenced PMCA implementation and results (attributes of the macro context, the market chain, the key actors, rules in use, and the capacity development strategy). There was insufficient information to test the validity of the PMCA change model, but results were greatest where the PMCA was implemented with highest fidelity. Our analysis suggests that the single most critical component of the PMCA is engagement of market agents – not just farmers – throughout the exercise. We present four lessons for planning and evaluating participatory approaches related to the use of action and change models, the importance of monitoring implementation fidelity, the limits of baseline survey data for outcome evaluation, and the importance of capacity development for implementers.     

An introduction to relationship algebras

Since the introduction and definition of relationship algebras by James (1957), rolatively little use has been made of this theory in experimental design and analysis problems This may be due to the underlying theory of relationship algebras being previously accessible only in books on mathematical structure theory, e.g. van der Waerden (1950) This paper provides a development of the theory of relationship algebras beginning at an elementray level and including only those parts of mathematical structure theory which are essential to this development. An example of its application in derving an analysis due to alling (1967) is presented.     

邪教认识论批判

李洪志的“修炼论”是“法轮功”的认识论基础。运用马克思主义实践论的观点分析批判它所提出的认识论问题 ,具有重要意义     

Differentiating Processes of Control and Understanding in the Early Development of Emotion and Cognition

In this study, we examined the hypothesis that preschoolers' performance on emotion and cognitive tasks is organized into discrete processes of control and understanding within the domains of emotion and cognition. Additionally, we examined the relations among component processes using mother report, behavioral observation, and physiological measures of emotion control. Participants were 263 children (42 percent non‐White) and their mothers. Results indicated that the three approaches of measuring emotion control were unrelated. Regardless of the measurement method, a four‐factor solution differentiating emotion control and understanding and cognitive control and understanding fits the data better than did either of two two‐factor models, one based on domains of emotion and cognition across processes, and one based on processes of control and understanding across domains. Results of this research replicate those of Leerkes et al. in describing a differentiated underlying structure of emotion and cognition processes in early childhood while also extending these conclusions across samples and across measurement approaches for assessing emotion control.     

《恰克图条约》谈判中的清朝使臣

在中俄《恰克图条约》谈判中，清朝使臣隆科多的强硬坚持和策凌的软弱妥协，正好反映了雍正帝为稳定边境而急于订约的迫切心态。     

Assessing program impact using latent growth modeling: a primer for the evaluator

Latent growth modeling (LGM) has emerged as a flexible analytic technique for modeling change over time because it can describe developmental processes at both the inter- and intra-individual levels. The LGM method can also provide a means for testing the contribution of other variables in order to explain variability in growth trajectories. This paper didactically illustrates the use of LGM as an analytical tool in program evaluation. Specifically, a hypothetical evaluation of a high school drug prevention program was used to demonstrate: (a) how LGM can be used to assess the longitudinal impact of a prevention program by comparing treatment and control populations with respect to individual differences in initial status and in rate of change; and (b) how predictors of initial status (post-intervention) and growth selected on the basis of a particular program theory can be incorporated in the model to explain program impact. Some advantages and limitations of using LGM in program evaluation are highlighted.     

At the birth of second century sociology: times of reflexivity, spaces of identity, and nodes of knowledge

The sociology of the next century is likely to differ from that of the twentieth century. The current situation and the future prospects of sociology are assessed by spelling out the trajectory over the past century of sociology's predominant assumptions about the character and direction of the social world and of its own task of cognition. Sociology is located in three spaces of identity: a space of disciplines, a stage of everyday practice, and a space of imagination and investigation. From the cosmological, epistemological, and spatial trajectories some indications of a new, very different future of sociology are given. Finally, a way of preserving and developing the legacy of first century sociology is presented, in the form of nodes of knowledge, central to a 'typical' sociological approach to the social.     

Theorizing in Family Studies: Discovering Process

This paper makes the case that theorizing in family studies might be different if scholars asked the types of questions that now are asked in the physical sciences. Initial efforts to move toward a more abstract explanatory level in family studies led to inventorying and verification. This paper argues that the recognition of a realm of discovery, allowing for the creative and disciplinary use of imagination and metaphor, would extend the scope and quality of questioning. To ground the argument, the paper focuses on the problematics associated with the conceptualization of process in marriages and families.     

论清初诗歌思想的特点

本文从社会政治情势的变动对学术文化思潮的影响以及由此引起的诗人创作态度、审美情趣和艺术追求的变化着眼 ,考察了清初诗歌思想的变化和特点。明清易代之际 ,社会激烈动荡 ,经世致用思潮高涨。创作队伍的主体是遗民诗人 ,反映社会现实、表现民族精神成为诗歌创作的主导倾向 ,强调抒写真性情 ,主张发挥个性成为诗人们共同的追求。自明代中叶以来摹拟复古的风气和追求“幽深孤峭”的弊端得到矫正 ,诗歌理论与创作呈现丰富多样的形态     

The witch doctor's pharmacist

This article explores the state of, and prospects for, training and development within the South African maritime industry, and is based on a series of in-depth interviews conducted with employers, the principal union, training institutions and regulatory bodies. Findings are that a deeply embedded racial division of labour persists, that there is a serious shortage of employment opportunities, and that training and certification remain fragmented. The article concludes that the quality of training provided is of a high standard, but there is a vital need for a coherent overall policy linking initial training with employment opportunities, ongoing skills development and the promotion of greater equality.