Using concept mapping as a planning tool: Child welfare citizen review panels

Citizen Review Panels (CRPs) are groups of citizen volunteers authorized by U.S. federal law to examine state child welfare agencies. These groups inspect policies and practices related to child protection responsibilities and are tasked with making recommendations for systemic improvement. Despite the federal mandate for each state to develop a CRP and the potential of these groups to positively impact child welfare practices, there is a dearth in the literature related to CRPs. Consequently, planning and evaluation processes of these groups vary widely. This study reports on the use of concept mapping (CM) to outline a framework for planning and subsequently evaluating the CRP in one southeastern state. CM is a mixed-method research approach that uses multi-dimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analyses to explore an area of study. Through these analyses, the method creates visual depictions of conceptual relationships between ideas. Data yielded a seven cluster concept map that CRP members (N = 36) utilized for planning processes, and subsequently for developing an internal evaluation tool. Results from this study offer a unifying framework by which CRPs, and similar groups in other areas can utilize for planning and evaluation purposes. After a review of pertinent literature on CRPs, this article explicates CM processes utilized in this study, describes results, discusses lessons learned, and outlines apposite areas for future CRP research.     

政府减排目标、产业结构与污染减排

政府是污染减排的重要主体,了解其行为对污染减排的作用对提升污染减排效果及实现中国绿色发展具有重要意义。创造性地将政府减排目标纳入研究框架,构建面板门槛模型,从工业污染排放总量的角度分析政府减排目标、产业结构、经济规模等因素对地方污染减排的影响,并用工业污染物强度进行稳健性检验。结果显示,政府减排目标对污染减排的作用存在阶段性不同:经济发展初级阶段,政府减排目标对污染排放总量的作用方向为正; 经济发展水平较高时,作用方向为负; 两者之间存在适应性调整阶段,作用方向具有不确定性,但总体由正向作用向负向作用转变。产业结构对工业污染排放总量的作用方向因污染物种类而异,经济规模对工业污染排放总量作用方向为正。     

Subjective utility with upper and lower probabilities on finite states

This article is concerned with thresholds of discrimination of preference judgments under uncertainty. We establish an axiomatic characterization for a threshold representation, where thresholds are represented by inexact measurement of subjective probabilities, i.e., upper and lower probabilities. Since upper and lower probabilities need not be additive, the representational form adopts the Choquet integration.     

德国行政赔偿制度的特色与成因

德国行政赔偿制度有着不同于大陆法系国家和普通法系国家行政赔偿制度的特色,这种特色突出体现在行政赔偿基础的赔偿请求权和对行政赔偿案件进行救济的赔偿审理制度两个方面。德国行政赔偿制度的特色是由在漫长的历史过程中所形成的思想因素、制度因素和文化因素造就而成。     

基于FCM的动态结合全局图像阈值分割

全局阈值分割对于小目标物效果不理想,动态阈值容易产生阴影等干扰,但综合考虑全局阈值和动态阈值可以达到比较理想的结果。模糊C均值算法用于灰度图像分割是一种非监督模糊聚类后再标定的过程,该文在不明显增加运算量的前提下,利用模糊C均值自动聚类的功能分别得到全局阈值和动态阈值,完成对阈值矩阵的构造和图像的分割。     

HEAVY-TAILED-DISTRIBUTED THRESHOLD STOCHASTIC VOLATILITY MODELS IN FINANCIAL TIME SERIES

To capture mean and variance asymmetries and time‐varying volatility in financial time series, we generalize the threshold stochastic volatility (THSV) model and incorporate a heavy‐tailed error distribution. Unlike existing stochastic volatility models, this model simultaneously accounts for uncertainty in the unobserved threshold value and in the time‐delay parameter. Self‐exciting and exogenous threshold variables are considered to investigate the impact of a number of market news variables on volatility changes. Adopting a Bayesian approach, we use Markov chain Monte Carlo methods to estimate all unknown parameters and latent variables. A simulation experiment demonstrates good estimation performance for reasonable sample sizes. In a study of two international financial market indices, we consider two variants of the generalized THSV model, with US market news as the threshold variable. Finally, we compare models using Bayesian forecasting in a value‐at‐risk (VaR) study. The results show that our proposed model can generate more accurate VaR forecasts than can standard models.     

Child Care “Packaging” Among TANF Recipients: Implications for Social Work

This article reports the results of a study that examined the ways in which current and recent TANF recipients assembled or “packaged” their child care arrangements among formal and informal providers. The findings are drawn from in-person, in-depth interviews with current and former welfare recipients. The study found that most of the respondents used multiple providers within the category of informal child care for reasons including availability, the use of a network of social acquaintances as a problem-solving resource, the need to accommodate irregular work hours, and personal trauma that contributed to a distrust of strangers in formal settings. The findings can affect the efficacy of practice with TANF recipients by contributing to social workers’ understanding of the context of decision-making regarding child care.     

城市规模、创业边界与企业家创业

大城市更有活力且更年轻化的人口结构,导致大城市的消费者异质性偏好更强,进而可能推动企业家创业边界的降低与城市创业活动的发展。为了识别这一理论机制,本文在Zhelobodko et al.（2012）的分析框架上,通过引入城市规模和消费者异质性偏好假设,构建了一个异质性企业家区位选择与创业的空间经济学模型,考察城市规模通过企业家创业边界对城市创业活动的影响,并基于2000-2016年204个城市的面板数据以及2008年中国经济普查数据进行了实证检验。研究发现：（1）企业家才能越高的企业,相应的产品定价会越低,产品需求量越大,而利润越高;（2）企业家创业边界除了受到城市规模的影响以外,还会受到消费者多样性偏好的影响;（3）消费者多样化偏好更强的城市,城市的创业门槛更低,城市的创业活跃度更高。     

环境管制、知识产权保护与区域创新能力——基于我国省际面板数据的实证研究

文章基于政府主导视角,利用2006—2015年我国30个省级面板数据,构建多元回归模型,分析变量之间的关系.其结果显示,环境管制、知识产权保护与区域创新能力之间呈非线性关系,环境管制与知识产权保护同时实施对区域创新能力有显著的促进作用,且具有区域异质性.从企业生存角度出发,提出门槛效应假说,采用Hansen面板门槛回归模型进行检验.结果表明,在环境管制与知识产权保护共同发挥作用时,环境管制必须控制在合理的范围内.最后采用门槛效应回归方法找到了环境管制与知识产权保护对区域创新能力影响的门槛值,并提出相应的政策建议.     

基于社会服务项目的儿童福利资源整合

当前,我国儿童福利资源存在资源匮乏、供给分散、可获得性弱等问题,而社会服务项目则是解决这些问题的一种路径。以福利治理为理论视角,尝试以一个留守儿童社会服务项目为例的研究发现,该项目通过不同形式的合作整合了来自政府、军队、群团组织、社会组织、企业、社区等资源,提高了福利资源的供给效率,满足了留守儿童多元化的福利需求,但是,由于项目本身的周期性、制度保障的缺乏等限制,导致了项目难以持续发挥作用。因此,基于社会服务项目的福利资源整合只是一种基于实践基础上的暂时的整合,而最根本的还需要在福利制度上进行整合。