The Continuum of Care System

Abstract

The Continuum of Care System is a Decision Support System designed to assist social workers responsible for identifying and selecting alternative living arrangements for children unable to remain in their own families. The Continuum of Care System consists of two software packages called MATCH and PROFILE. MATCH produces a rank-ordered list of prospective placement alternatives by statistically comparing an individual child to groups of children previously admitted into different residential facilities. PROFILE summarizes the characteristics and problems of children at each facility in the system.     

Oiling the wheels? Flexible labour markets and the migration industry

ABSTRACT

The growing commercialisation of migration, often through a multiplicity of labour market intermediaries, is an issue of increasing academic interest. We seek to contribute to an emerging research agenda on the migration industries by exploring how one of the key actors that constitutes it, recruitment agencies, sits at the nexus between flexible labour market structures and migrant labour. Interviews with U.K. labour providers and low-wage employers form the evidence base for an analysis of the strategies developed by recruiters to derive commercial gain from connecting the so-called ‘supply’ and ‘demand’ sides of the flexible international labour market. We seek to contribute to understandings of the analytical categories within migration systems by illustrating how the migration industry interacts with other key stakeholders to structure international migration.     

A Critical Review of Chinese Ethnic Law Studies in 2014

I. Basic Theory of Ethnic Law Studies
As a mature discipline,research on the basic theory of ethnic law studies is no longer the focus of research. Nonetheless,this does not deny that it is a rese...     

高校实施ISO9000标准的若干问题探讨

ISO9000族标准是国际标准化组织颁布的世界通用的质量管理标准。目前,国内一些高等学校开始按照ISO9000标准建立质量管理体系。电子科技大学中山学院在这种背景下,在全院范围内推行ISO9000质量管理体系。在这一过程中,产生了一些值得探讨的问题,出现了一些实际操作的难点,现提出来与大家共同探讨。     

建设节约型社会的理性思考

工业文明以来,石油危机、海啸等一系列生态危机就人类对资源的保护和利用问题敲响了警钟。为了实现人与自然的和谐、可持续发展,实现全面建设小康社会的目标,2004年初,我国政府正式提出建设节约型社会,使资源得到节约使用,环境得到保护,人民生活更加文明、健康、科学,经济与社会持续发展。建设节约型社会是可持续发展不可分割的部分,是构建和谐社会的重要保证,是中国现代化的根本出路,关系到中华民族的兴衰与长期发展,也关系到全人类的幸福与明天。本文主要研究节约型社会作为节约系统工程的评价及体系构建,以期更好地建设节约型社会。     

Monitoring S3: Key dimensions and implications

Our work analyses the implications of a smart specialisation strategy (S3) monitoring model based on a system that considers three main axes linked to the logic of the strategies: output/results, smart specialisation process, and a learning component, on which we build our main approach. This strategic learning is based on the logic that S3 presents a new paradigm within the innovation policy scope that requires the inclusion of monitoring schemes that integrate the assessment of the dynamic process under which both public administration and other innovation stakeholders learn and improve their activities (within and without the strategy) thanks to the learning gathered throughout S3 (and its instruments and projects) implementation. The article also discusses this logic within the current and the next programming period for S3, and the role monitoring has or will have, while analysing the opportunities and challenges it presents.     

A systematic literature review of the etiology of borderline personality disorder from an ecological systems PERSPECTIVE

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is one of the most common, complex, costly, and severely impairing personality disorders, affecting an estimated 2% to 9% of the general population and 40% to 44% of the inpatient psychiatric population. A review of the literature was conducted using a systematic methodology. By incorporating an ecological systems perspective, a holistic and comprehensive critique of the literature surrounding the etiology of BPD is presented. The findings reveal that the etiology of BPD is a complex integration of psychological, biological, and social factors. More specifically, however, this review found that: (1) the etiology of BPD is complex and has many factors, (2) the dominant discourse about the etiology of BPD is based primarily in the psychological and biological literature, and (3) the examination of BPD etiology has focused solely on the individual and microsystems levels, neglecting to consider systemic factors such as the impact of discriminatory health and mental healthcare practices. Findings and future directions are explored through the ecological systems theory lens.     

Enabling children’s deliberation in deliberative systems: schools as a mediating space

In recent years, there has been a growing scholarly interest in conceptualising schools beyond their educational functions, as sites and agents of democracy. Yet this interest is often underpinned by a narrow conception of democracy, focusing solely on schools’ public and social aspects. To capture the democratic potential of schools more fully, this article suggests adopting a deliberative systems approach, which conceptualises democracy as differentiated yet linked sites of democratic communications and views schools as one such site. Using this approach as a broader framework and drawing on the fieldwork conducted in two Japanese schools, this article identifies the condition under which schools can become a meaningful part of deliberative systems. It reveals that schools contribute to deliberative systems when they serve as a bridge between children’s everyday practices and deliberative actions in the public space. In light of the findings, this article suggests conceptualising schools as a ‘mediating space’.     

Interactive profit-planning systems and market turbulence: A dynamic capabilities perspective

This article describes, theorizes and empirically investigates the concept of interactive profit-planning systems (PPS) through the lens of the dynamic capabilities logic. With this conceptualization: interactive PPS capabilities comprise budgeting, forecasting and results-reporting routines, in which top and middle managers interact to create knowledge for sensing, seizing, and business model reconfiguring (to manage strategic business change). Survey data from 331 Australian firms is analyzed employing partial least squares structural equation modeling. The data provides support for two hypotheses: (1) greater market turbulence strengthens the positive effect of interactive PPS capabilities on business unit performance; and (2) greater market turbulence strengthens the positive effect of flexibility values (of organizational culture) on interactive PPS capabilities. Our findings show that interactive PPS capabilities function according to the salient tenets of the dynamic capabilities logic, and clarify the beneficial roles of formal cybernetic control systems and the intertwined involvement of top and middle managers in using dynamic capabilities.     

建立以本土企业为主体的协同创新机制研究

改革开放以来,我国经济发展取得了巨大成就,但也面临一些重大挑战,特别是本土企业加入、依赖跨国公司主导的产业链,在短期内得以迅速发展的同时,也导致本土产业链出现了断裂和碎片化的问题,这对本土企业的创新和发展是不利的。文章研究在我国建立以本土企业为主体的协同创新机制的基本规律和特点,为提高本土企业的创新能力提供借鉴。研究的主要发现是,这是一个复杂和曲折的过程,在这一过程的启动阶段和转折阶段,非经济因素或者至少是长期经济因素而不是短期经济因素具有独特的、非常重要的作用。