Destructive decision-making in developing countries

In most developing countries strategic decision-making has been largely based on false premises that have led to destructive results. One set of false premises stems from the assumption that development can be dissociated from the destructively exponential growth in developed countries, from the limits on the planet's physical resources and from complex ecological linkages. Another set is grounded on the popular myths of entrenched development economics: particularly, the enshrining of GNP as the overall indicator of progress, and the concomitant withdrawal of attention from poverty and concentrated wealth, unemployment, and the injurious effects of many modern technologies. These destructive premises tend to reinforce the evolving institutions of new-style empire and oligarchy.More successful development requires standing present development policies on their head through development goals calling for (1) a recognition of redistributive and nonmaterial growth possibilities, (2) redistributive, material and nonmaterial growth in developing countries, (3) redistributive, nonmaterial growth in overdeveloped countries, with a major slowing down of material consumption, (4) large-scale employment projects in developing countries, and (5) the fostering and use of more constructive technologies. All such shifts, however, would require—and tend to lead toward—substantial, long-term changes in the sociopolitical structure of developing countries and the world society.This paper is based on and adapted from The Limits of Development Administration, the keynote paper presented in October 1972 at the U.N. Public Administration Division's conference on development administration in Kiev, USSR, and Unemployment: The Snag in Development, prepared at Kiev and published in The Nation, Dec. 11, 1972.     

Cognitive tempo,violent video games,and aggressive behavior in young boys

In a factorial design, impulsive and reflective children played video games with aggressive or nonaggressive themes. Interpersonal aggression and aggression toward inanimate objects were assessed in a free-play setting and interpersonal aggression was assessed during a frustrating situation. Results indicated that subjects who played the video game with aggressive content exhibited significantly more object aggression during free-play and more interpersonal aggression during the frustrating situation than youngsters who played nonaggressive video games. Aggressive behavior was unaffected by cognitive tempo.     

Management strategy for economic and social development: Part II

The new and rapidly changing environment of development administrators includes (1) the emergence of a world society of interdependent nations, (2) a rapid and confusing technological and scientific revolution, (3) the expansion of service societies in industrialized countries, (4) new major alternatives for war, neocolonialism, despotism and materialism, and (5) development problems of ascending complexity and difficulty.Post-industrial beginnings in modern management arise from a background of management thought and technique in agricultural epochs and the more recent industrial revolution. They encompass computer technology; operations research; systems approaches, including systems engineering, management information systems, and general systems research; cost-effectiveness analysis and PPBS; social indicators; and future-casting. Their development has contributed to a growing gulf between technique and capability, to a triumph of technique over strategy and a retreat from human values.Attention is directed to specific strategies and tactics of introducing modern management techniques in developing nations. The efforts to do this during the 1960 Development Decade are reviewed. The prospects for the 1970's are previewed, and suggestions offered for problem area task forces and the expansion of U.N. activities in advancing, not merely diffusing, the current state of the art.Since the most significant modern management advances have been tactical, a dozen principles of strategic decisionmaking are suggested: (1) responsible decisionmaking, (2) the conflict essence of problems, (3) selectivity, (4) total system appreciation, (5) relative proportions, (6) sequential model-using, (7) problem interrelationships, (8) jointed incrementalism, (9) organized and unorganized interests, (10) the emotional basis of rational action, (11) investment in future capabilities, and (12) power mobilization and use.The paper ends by raising vital questions on the improvement of managerial values. This is done by specific proposals for a code of managerial ethics and the formulation of more humanistic management goals.     

Traumatic basal subarachnoid hemorrhages: autopsy material analysis

Fourteen cases of traumatic basal subarachnoid hemorrhages, examined in the years 1980-1988, were presented. Bleeding was connected with the fracture of the transverse process of the atlas in eleven cases and with atlanto-occipital dislocation in three. The source of hemorrhage--vertebral artery rupture--was determined only four times. In nine cases (63%) atlases showed various developmental malformations (posterior ponticle and foramen arcuale, epitransverse process, incomplete ossification of the transverse process). The results were related to the literature of the subject. Special attention was paid to the mechanism of the rupture of the vertebral arteries in which developmental disorders and pathological conditions may play an important role.     

Psychotropic drugs in developmental mushrooms: a case study review

Psilocyn and psilocybin can be identified in different stages of developing psilocybe mushrooms. Knowing the various stages of the mushroom development can be useful when receiving evidence from illicit mushroom growing operations. Exhibits from three separate cases were submitted to the drug analysis section of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Forensic Science Laboratory. Each case contained different stages of developing mushrooms. This report describes the evidence in each case, the sample preparation, the sample analysis and the final report that was written.     

The impact of sentencing options on recidivism among domestic violence offenders: A case study

Past domestic violence research has tended to focus on issues related to law enforcement responses. More recently, the focus has shifted to other components of the criminal justice system, such as prosecution and correctional responses, to determine the best way to reduce domestic violence. This project is a case study of 177 male convicted domestic violence offenders who were sentenced to one of five options: community corrections; jail; a suspended sentence; private counseling, a fine, or restitution; and advisement. The focus of this inquiry is on the likelihood of each sanction reducing future arrests and convictions for domestic violence. The results reveal that no one sanction is more effective than the other options. A draft of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Criminal Justice Association, Chattanooga, TN, 1999. The authors would like to thank the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this paper. This work stems from a project started by Chesterfield County and Melissa Gross to complete her Master of Social Work degree requirements. The primary authors of this piece are Jill A. Gordon and Laura J. Moriarty. The ordering of names are alphabetical after Melissa Gross.     

Testing What Matters (If You Must Test at All): A Context‐Driven Approach to Substantive and Statistical Significance

For over a half century, various fields in the behavioral and social sciences have debated the appropriateness of null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) in the presentation and assessment of research results. A long list of criticisms has fueled the so‐called significance testing controversy. The conventional NHST framework encourages researchers to devote excessive attention to statistical significance while underemphasizing practical (e.g., scientific, substantive, social, political) significance. I introduce a simple, intuitive approach that grounds testing in subject‐area expertise, balancing the dual concerns of detectability and importance. The proposed practical and statistical significance test allows the social scientist to test for real‐world significance, taking into account both sampling error and an assessment of what parameter values should be deemed interesting, given theory. The matter of what constitutes practical significance is left in the hands of the researchers themselves, to be debated as a natural component of inference and interpretation.     

Teacher career paths,teacher quality,and persistence in the classroom: Are public schools keeping their best?

In this paper we examine the mobility of early‐career teachers of varying quality, measured using value‐added estimates of teacher performance. Unlike previous studies that have examined these issues, we focus on the variation in these effects across the effectiveness distribution. We find that, on average, more effective teachers tend to stay in their initial schools and in the teaching profession. But there also appears to be heterogeneity in mobility behavior across the performance distribution and evidence that teacher mobility is affected by student demographics and achievement levels. © 2010 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.