Accountability revisited: the arrival of client outcome evaluation

In the past few years, "accountability" for public mental health programs has become differentiated in the minds of not only program evaluators, but also program managers and funders, including state and local-level legislators. Increasingly, these officials are becoming concerned with more than just the numbers and targets of services delivered, and the cost involved, and are looking for evidence of positive outcome or impact on clients to justify program implementation and maintenance. This represents a significant move beyond the two accountability models that most recently seemed to be the focus of most formal accountability efforts--performance measurement and quality assurance. Pressures for implementing these two alternatives seem to have been reduced somewhat by the new federal Administration, but even prior to its advent there had been a rapid escalation in awareness of and concern for client outcome measurement among important audiences, including state and local mental health policy-makers and the U.S. Congress. This presents a major new opportunity and challenge for program evaluators at this new accountability focus continues to gather momentum.     

Archival data in program evaluation and policy analysis

Evaluators have typically avoided using existing data sets, choosing instead to collect their own information to maintain control over both the content and quality of the data. As demands on action researchers increase without provision for additional resources, primary data collection may become a luxury and the use of archival data may increase. Though archival data has practical and methodological advantages, there are limitations associated with the utilization of such information. The general problems with secondary data sources include the accuracy, acceptability and accessibility of the information. Following a discussion of these general problems, an example from the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS) reimbursement data set is presented to illustrate specific difficulties with using archival data for evaluation research. Strategies are then presented for minimizing these difficulties, including determining the feasibility of utilization of such data sources, methods for assessing their accuracy and factors to consider in the data acquisition process.     

福克纳意识流小说的心理学创作背景探源

作为英美意识流小说的杰出代表,福克纳极其善于从西方文明的优秀成果中吸收艺术营养。美国心理学家威廉·詹姆斯关于意识流的相关理论和奥地利精神病学家西格蒙德·弗洛伊德的无意识理论、梦的机制以及生本能和死本能的划分等均对福克纳的意识流创作产生了深远的影响。     

Ray Watching: The Highly Protected,British Prison Experience of Martin Luther King’s Killer

The arrest of James Earl Ray at London Airport on 8 June 1968 marked the final stage of an international manhunt that had begun with the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. on 4 April. Arrested for travelling on a false passport and with an unlicensed firearm, Ray faced extradition to the US to face charges of murder. While in prison in Britain, the US Government feared that he might escape, commit suicide or be himself assassinated. Each of these outcomes risked reigniting the African-American anger that had wracked major US cities in April. Accordingly the UK Government was requested to take special security measures and complied. Was this a supine response from a Labour government anxious to placate a disgruntled superpower ally or did it also reflect contemporaneous UK anxieties about the tense state of race relations at home? Drawing on Home Office records, this article examines these questions.     

Nonparametric hypothesis testing for equality of means on the simplex

We investigate use of empirical and exponential empirical likelihood, and Hotelling and James statistics, to test the null hypothesis of equal population means based on two independent samples of data on the simplex. We perform an extensive numerical study using data simulated from various distributions on the simplex. The results, taken together with practical considerations regarding implementation, support the use of bootstrap-calibrated James statistic.     

Enhancing Estimation for Interest Rate Diffusion Models With Bond Prices

We consider improving estimating parameters of diffusion processes for interest rates by incorporating information in bond prices. This is designed to improve the estimation of the drift parameters, which are known to be subject to large estimation errors. It is shown that having the bond prices together with the short rates leads to more efficient estimation of all parameters for the interest rate models. It enhances the estimation efficiency of the maximum likelihood estimation based on the interest rate dynamics alone. The combined estimation based on the bond prices and the interest rate dynamics can also provide inference to the risk premium parameter. Simulation experiments were conducted to confirm the theoretical properties of the estimators concerned. We analyze the overnight Fed fund rates together with the U.S. Treasury bond prices. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.     

乔伊斯小说中的象征寓意

乔伊斯是一位著名的意识流小说家.在他的作品里,大量地运用了象征手法来烘托小说的主题思想,使爱尔兰首都都柏林成了现代西方社会的缩影,使西方现代社会的方方面面淋漓尽致地跃然纸上.他作品里的象征寓意主要是通过死亡象征、景物象征、动态象征、意念象征和修辞象征表现出来的.     

从目的论视角管窥中国神秘文化的译介——以理雅各的《礼记》英译本为例

基于德国功能派的翻译目的论,以理雅各的《礼记》英译本为研究案例,分析了理雅各对中国神秘文化的译介。为了襄助其传教事业,理雅各采取了归化的译法来翻译某些蕴涵中国神秘文化的词,体现出了他的宗教融合倾向,同时,当某些中国神秘文化现象在西方文化中找不到类似的文化意象时,他又采取了异化的翻译方法,以便划清中国宗教和基督教之间的界限。     

从框架理论析詹姆斯·乔伊斯小说《尤利西斯》

《尤利西斯》是詹姆斯·乔伊斯意识流小说的扛鼎之作,小说中大量运用意识流手法的描写使其晦涩难懂。框架（Frame）作为一种认知概念,其构建有助于文本的理解。从概念框架观、情景框架观和社会文化框架观这三种最有影响力的框架理论的角度能更好地对这部作品中的人物原型、故事情节发展和人物性格的形成进行认知解读。框架理论为读者理解文学语篇提供了新的视角。     

詹姆斯·奥康纳生态学马克思主义理论述评

生态学马克思主义是当代西方马克思主义中最有影响的思潮之一。由美国著名社会生态学家詹姆斯.奥康纳提出的生态学马克思主义理论,认为马克思主义存在着“理论空场”,即对自然作为生产条件和界限的忽视。奥康纳通过对自然概念的重写将马克思历史唯物主义的基础建立在自然之上,从而重建了历史唯物主义。