Quality of Web-based Information on Pathological Gambling

The present study aims to evaluate the quality of web-based information on gambling and to investigate potential content quality indicators. The following key words: gambling, pathological gambling, excessive gambling, gambling problem and gambling addiction were entered into two popular search engines: Google and Yahoo. Websites were assessed with a standardized proforma designed to rate sites on the basis of “accountability”, “presentation”, “interactivity”, “readability” and “content quality”. “Health on the Net” (HON) quality label, and DISCERN scale scores aiding people without content expertise to assess quality of written health publication were used to verify their efficiency as quality indicators. Of the 200 links identified, 75 websites were included. The results of the study indicate low scores on each of the measures. A composite global score appeared as a good content quality indicator. While gambling-related education websites for patients are common, their global quality is poor. There is a need for useful evidence-based information about gambling on the web. As the phenomenon has greatly increased, it could be relevant for Internet sites to improve their content by using global score as a quality indicator.     

Child and Family Outcomes in New York and Tel AVIV: Using Social Indicators in a City Level Comparative Analysis

This article presents a comparative study in which social indicators were employed as a means to examine differences in living conditions and family and children outcomes on a local level. The study obtained household-level data on the well-being of children and families in two cities: New York (NYC) and Tel Aviv (TLV). Data were collected using computer assisted telephone interview (CATI) technology and random digit dialing (RDD). Telephone interviews were conducted with the randomly selected adults in English, Spanish and Chinese in NYC and in Hebrew in TLV. The study reported here documented differences in family and child well-being between the two cities. It further documented that family size and caregiver level of education play a similar role in both cities and their importance in regard to child and family outcomes. The significant differences found in adults’ and especially children’s outcomes were analyzed by the caregiver’s level of education and further support the need for policies that alleviate the burden of less educated caregivers and aim to improve the well-being of them and their families. The study demonstrates the relevance of social indicators at the local level, not only for measuring outcomes among specific populations, but also in regard to their possible implications for social policies, a most timely task in an era of social services devolution.     

Indicators and Indices of Child Well-being: A Brief American History

This paper traces the history of indicators and indices of child well-being from its origins in the social indicator movement of the 1970s through recent developments in the field. Initial work calling for comprehensive sets of indicators of child well-being and later recommendations for indicator improvement are detailed. Products that resulted from these recommendations, such as comprehensive indicator reports and online resources are described. The development of child well-being indices is shown to parallel the history of indicators. The contributions of state and international indicator and index projects are included as well. Important aspects of child well-being indicator development are uncovered through documenting its history, including the need to focus on subjective as well as objective measures of well-being, and the need to develop indicators for the multiple ecological contexts of children’s lives, but to separate measures of context from measures of child outcomes. A rough consensus emerges across the history of indicator efforts on the critical domains of child well-being: physical, psychological, cognitive, social, and economic well-being. Recent recognition of the importance of indicators of positive development is noted. This paper was funded by the KIDS COUNT project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation.     

An Introduction to ‘Benefit of the Doubt’ Composite Indicators

Despite their increasing use, composite indicators remain controversial. The undesirable dependence of countries’ rankings on the preliminary normalization stage, and the disagreement among experts/stakeholders on the specific weighting scheme used to aggregate sub-indicators, are often invoked to undermine the credibility of composite indicators. Data envelopment analysis may be instrumental in overcoming these limitations. One part of its appeal in the composite indicator context stems from its invariance to measurement units, which entails that a normalization stage can be skipped. Secondly, it fills the informational gap in the ‘right’ set of weights by generating flexible ‘benefit of the doubt’-weights for each evaluated country. The ease of interpretation is a third advantage of the specific model that is the main focus of this paper. In sum, the method may help to neutralize some recurring sources of criticism on composite indicators, allowing one to shift the focus to other, and perhaps more essential stages of their construction. An abridged version of this paper was presented at the Workshop on European Indicators and Scoreboards, organised by DG Education and the Joint Research Centre within the auspices of CRELL, in Brussels, October 24–25, 2005.     

高校教师国际化水平评价与提升途径——以上海理工大学能源与动力工程学院为例

为探索高校教师国际化素质的激励机制,建立由教师、教学和科研国际化3个一级指标、7个二级指标和18个三级指标组成的评价指标体系,采用层次分析和主观经验相结合的方法确定指标权重,建立模糊综合评价模型。以地方工科高校能源类直属二级院系上海理工大学能源与动力工程学院为例,对其教师国际化现状与水平进行综合评价。在此基础上,以评价指标和结果为指导,提出教师国际化素质提升的应对方法与途径。     

管理研究者和实践者共同语言的构建

管理研究者与实践者之间存在着沟通鸿沟,这一障碍的存在既不利于管理研究的发展,又不利于管理实践的改善。基于此,从意义构建角度,提出了消除这种鸿沟的方法,即通过"差异辨识-制定规则-选择问题-形成协作"4个阶段的合作,以及构建管理研究的评价体系,减少管理研究和管理实践间的不对称性,促进两者间的有效沟通,从而实现面向实践的管理研究的良性发展。     

农村群体性事件预警指标体系构建研究

研究分析国内外农村群体性事件预警及相关研究的现状,认为农村群体性事件是社会矛盾积累的结果。根据农村群体性事件诱因体系以及预警指标体系构建原则和指导理念,研究构建其初步的预警指标体系。运用专家调查法,通过定量分析和定性分析,完善初步构建的预警指标体系,研究得出农村群体性事件预警指标体系的基本构想。     

Evaluation of performance of European cities with the aim to promote quality of life improvements

This paper explores the possibilities presented by DEA to assess quality of life and evaluate the performance of city managers in what concerns the promotion of urban quality of life. Using the data provided by the Urban Audit program, from the European Union, we defined the city profile regarding quality of life for 206 cities. Two approaches are presented: the construction of a composite indicator of quality of life and the assessment of local management performance, contextualised by the GDP per capita to measure the ability of local authorities to promote quality of life given the economic condition of the country. The results identify the cities with urban best practices and present a model of intervention for the cities considered inefficient, based on benchmarking principles.     

基于因子分析法的石油公司竞争力评价研究

综合指数评价法是目前企业竞争力评价研究中使用最多的方法之一,但该方法存在指标之间有相关性和指标权重确定的主观性强等问题。为了克服这些不足,正确评价石油公司的竞争力,对20家典型石油公司的11项关键指标采用因子分析法进行评价研究,选取规模因子、效益因子、技术因子和可持续发展因子四个竞争力因子,计算各公司的因子得分和综合得分,对比分析国际石油公司、国家石油公司和独立石油公司之间的竞争优劣势。中国石油公司未来应继续坚持国际化战略,加强与国际石油公司的合作,提高技术水平和管理水平,从而提升国际竞争力。