Exploratory Study on Drug Users’ Perspectives on Quality of Life: More than Health-Related Quality of Life?

In drug treatment outcome literature, a focus on objective and socially desirable indicators of change (e.g. no drug use) has predominated, while outcome indicators that are important for drug users themselves (e.g. quality of life, satisfaction with treatment) have largely been neglected. Nonetheless, Quality of Life (QoL) has become an important concept to evaluate effectiveness of treatment in mental health care research and disability studies. Given the almost exclusive focus on Health-related Quality of Life (HRQOL) in substance abuse research and the neglect of clients’ perspectives in this field, we explore in this study the concept of QoL as perceived by drug users. Focus group discussions (n = 9) were organised in various treatment settings and community services for drug users in the region of Ghent, Belgium to identify important dimensions of QoL and their interpretation by drug users. Data were clustered and analysed based on the theoretical framework of Robert Schalock (Quality of life. Volume 1: Conceptualization and measurement, 1996). The domains ‘personal relationships’, ‘social inclusion’ and ‘self-determination’ were discussed most frequently by the participants. They stressed the importance of a supportive social network in particular. It can be concluded that QoL is not primarily associated by drug users with health and it involves much more than the aspects typically represented in measures of HRQOL.     

高等学校教学质量监控问题与对策研究

教学质量监控是确保学校教学质量的一种管理工作过程。当前高等学校教学质量监控中存在监控主体不明、实践教学重视程度不够、教学质量评价标准刻板、单一、教学信息反馈不畅等问题,针对这些问题积极寻求有效的对策是提高教学质量监控的重要途径。     

论高校学报质量函数关系

高等学校学报质量是一个整体概念,要在策划、选题、审稿、编校、装帧设计、印制、发行等各个环节都以质量为本,以求达到最佳质量效果。每一个环节的质量形成了一个质量体系,这个质量体系包含多个参数组成,每一个参数对高等学校学报质量作用不同,从而这些参数与学报整体质量形成函数关系。     

我国民族素质研究的标志性成果--读都永浩新著《民族素质论》

本文认为,<民族素质论>的出版,既是对中国民族理论学科研究领域的拓展和深化,又是民族素质研究的标志性成果.它的学术贡献主要有深度探讨了民族素质的概念;全面论述了研究民族素质的意义和其所能发挥的作用;科学地分析了民族素质的形成与发展过程;辩证地阐述了现代民族素质诸结构及其相互关系等.     

满族家庭生活教育概说

满族家庭生活教育内容主要包括:遵循家法、注意饮食、规律起居、重视医疗与养生、加强运动、保持节俭等积极方面的规范,以及对酗酒、吸咽、经商等不良行为的禁忌.这些教育提高了满族的生活素质,增强了其身体素质,同时也提高了民族的整体素质.     

An Examination of the Effect of Continuous Quality Improvements on Optimal Pricing for Durable Goods*

This paper investigates the nature of optimal prices for a durable good in the presence of continuous quality improvements. The analysis of optimal prices is based on a nonlinear dynamic model of sales response that relates price, quality, average life of a product and the persistence of quality perceptions. Numerical solutions to the model are derived by employing the generalized reduced gradient algorithm. The results show that optimal price depends on the persistence of quality perceptions and the average life of a product (an aspect of quality). The analysis of optimal results affirms results based on other models and provides insights on the influence that quality has on optimal pricing. The implications of the results and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

A scoping review of knowledge syntheses in the field of evaluation across four decades of practice

This scoping review of 62 knowledge syntheses published in evaluation-focused journals between 1979 and May 2018 provides a portrait of synthesis practices and their evolution in the mainstream of the field of evaluation. Concerns surrounding the production of knowledge syntheses to answer policy questions are not new in the field of evaluation. However, during this last decade, knowledge synthesis methods have expanded as a means to go beyond the limits and constraints of singular evaluations. This scoping review reveals and discusses two key issues with regards to the expansion of knowledge synthesis practices within the field of evaluation: the diversity—and muddling— of methodological practices and synthesis designs, and the frequent omission of quality appraisals.     

Bringing Japanese Continuous Improvement Approaches to U.S. Manufacturing: The Roles of Process Orientation and Communications*

Continuous improvement (CI) has played a key role in Japan's quality management. U.S. companies have begun to adopt CI in recent years. This paper studies the implementation of CI in seven U.S. manufacturing companies. We view values as the core concept of culture that impacts CI effectiveness. Using both qualitative and quantitative data with a sample of seven companies, we observe empirically a relationship between process-oriented values and CI effectiveness. We also find that communications involving workers is strongly associated with CI effectiveness. Finally, we find an association between process orientation and communication frequency, and argue that communications act as an intervening variable between process orientation and effectiveness.     

A Path Analytic Model of a Theory of Quality Management Underlying the Deming Management Method: Preliminary Empirical Findings*

Despite the impact that Deming and his 14 Points have had on the practice of quality management, empirical support for the effectiveness of the Deming Management Method has not advanced beyond the presentation of anecdotal, case-study evidence. In part, this is because theory to guide the conduct of empirical research has not been available. Only recently has such a theory of quality management to describe and explain the effectiveness of the Deming Management Method been articulated in the literature. This paper continues the journey of theory development; it reports the results of an exploratory empirical analysis of an articulated theory of quality management underlying the Deming Management Method. The constructs in the proposed theory are operationalized using measurement statements developed by the World-Class Manufacturing research project team at the University of Minnesota and Iowa State University. Path analysis is applied to the World-Class Manufacturing project data to explore the empirical strength of relationships advanced in the theory. The path analytic results provide support for several of the proposed relationships in the theory, and more importantly, suggest a number of new relationships which have not heretofore been proposed.     

不完全契约、质量监督与农业企业外包——基于中国农业上市公司的实证研究

农业企业的产品质量与组织分工形式密切相关。在契约不完全理论的基础上构建引入质量监督与企业外包决策的经济模型,提出质量监督成本的提高会促使农业企业选择纵向一体化生产模式的理论假说,并基于2012-2021年中国农业上市公司数据,采用动态面板系统GMM方法展开经验研究证实。结果表明,生产环节的难以监督和契约制度环境不完善产生的质量监督成本使农业上市公司外包水平显著下降,间接验证了农业企业为保证中间产品质量需增大对专业化经营主体的监督费用,从而影响其组织分工形式的理论假说。此外,企业的资产专用性、市场规模和资产规模都会对外包程度产生影响。进一步分组回归发现：与养殖类企业相比,质量监督成本对生产过程相对复杂的种植类企业外包水平的负向影响更为显著。