Geographic Opportunity and Neomalthusian Willingness: Boundaries,Shared Rivers,and Conflict

International conflict has been analyzed extensively through the framework of opportunity and willingness. Opportunity has mainly been operationalized as physical proximity. Willingness has been measured in a number of ways, and remains a somewhat more elusive concept. Several scholars have called for boundary length to represent opportunity. Heeding such calls, Harvey Starr has used GIS methods to generate boundary length for 1993 and has found it to be associated with increased propensity to conflict. A number of his measures of willingness were not. Using a new and much more extensive dataset on boundary length for the entire Correlates of War period, this article finds very different results. We study the relationship with shared rivers and water scarcity as measures of neomalthusian factors in willingness over a 110-year period. The results indicate that the neomalthusian factors are significant although not dramatic in their effects. Boundary length, while associated with conflict in a bivariate analysis, fades into insignificance when the neomalthusian willingness measures are introduced.     

Discrimination of Geographical Origin of Asian Garlic Using Isotopic and Chemical Datasets under Stepwise Principal Component Analysis

Isotopic compositions of δ²H, δ¹⁸O, δ¹³C, and δ¹⁵N and concentrations of 22 trace elements from garlic samples were analyzed and processed with stepwise principal component analysis (PCA) to discriminate garlic's country of origin among Asian regions including South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, and China. Results indicate that there is no single trace‐element concentration or isotopic composition that can accomplish the study's purpose and the stepwise PCA approach proposed does allow for discrimination between countries on a regional basis. Sequentially, Step‐1 PCA distinguishes garlic's country of origin among Taiwanese, South Korean, and Vietnamese samples; Step‐2 PCA discriminates Chinese garlic from South Korean garlic; and Step‐3 and Step‐4 PCA, Chinese garlic from Vietnamese garlic. In model tests, countries of origin of all audit samples were correctly discriminated by stepwise PCA. Consequently, this study demonstrates that stepwise PCA as applied is a simple and effective approach to discriminating country of origin among Asian garlics.     

“I was prepared for the worst I guess”: stayers’ and leavers’ perceptions of their Title IV-E education

ABSTRACT

Child welfare workforces across the nation are experiencing high turnover and have for decades. The chronic cost of turnover makes efforts to increase retention crucial. The Title IV-E education stipend program is one way that many states employ to improve their child welfare worker tenure. Through qualitative interviews, this study examines Title IV-E graduates’ experiences and perceptions of preparedness for working in child welfare agencies. Examining how the responses of stayers and leavers differ and assessing similarities collectively can inform educational and agency enhancements to improve services, as well as worker competence and retention.     

An effective pedagogy for child welfare education

ABSTRACT

Preparing social workers for child welfare practice with the complexly traumatized children now in the system has created the need for schools of social work to integrate trauma content into the curriculum. This article presents findings of an evaluation of a child welfare course designed to prepare MSW level trauma-informed child welfare practitioners. Findings indicate that students in 29 schools of social work not only significantly increased their confidence in working with traumatized children and families but also are significantly more prepared to work toward these three child welfare goals of safety, permanency, and well-being.     

住宅价格如何影响城镇居民消费——基于状态空间模型的研究

基于时变参数状态空间模型,利用1999年到2016年的季度数据测算了我国住宅价格对城镇居民消费影响的时变特征。结果表明,我国住宅价格对消费的影响整体上呈现微弱的财富效应,住宅价格的MPC位于0.0543到0.1155之间。2004年之前住宅价格上升对消费的影响波动剧烈,2004年后大致呈现先上升,2013年后开始下降的“倒U”型趋势。这说明近年来房价上升对消费的挤出效应迅速增强。鉴于此,从挤出效应传导机制入手,政府应该谨慎平稳调整房价、增加保障性住房供给,并提高城镇化进行中外来人口收入。     

技术创新模式下的社会资本与网络关系的影响研究

近年来,我国生产性服务业正在以服务经济为主导的产业结构中快速迈进,诸多生产性服务中间投入要素也正向制造业融入,二者已进入互动发展阶段。文章立足于社会资本和社会网络关系理论,深入研究了生产性服务业与制造业在不同技术创新互动阶段下,社会资本决定的网络主体强弱关系对企业选择技术创新模式的行为影响,并结合中国塑料城塑料研究院有限公司近年来的技术创新进行了案例分析。由此获得的结论是：制造业是服务业发展的前提和基础,生产性服务业是关联制造业体系的重要补充,服务业体系的发展必然依托于制造业强有力的技术创新;互动发展中的网络主体强弱关系与技术创新模式存在一定相关性,弱关系促进探索式创新,强关系促进利用式创新;不同互动阶段,技术创新也存在不同特征,并具有协同演化趋势。     

集体心理所有权的生成机制与作用机理——基于多层次整合的理论模型构建

集体心理所有权是团队成员对共同目标物的集体性占有感,对激发成员的集体主人翁精神具有重要意义。当前团队工作的盛行使其越来越多地受到理论界与实务界的关注,但缺少对其生成与作用过程机制的整合分析。文章运用文献研究方法,提出了集体心理所有权的多层次整合模型,描述了集体心理所有权可能的生成与作用机制,并从社会认同理论与团队互动过程理论出发,探讨了影响这些路径主要的中介与调节。这一整合模型丰富了集体心理所有权影响效应过程机制的研究,并为未来的实证探索提供了一定的理论方向。     

Transferring custody from birth parents to foster parents – an ambiguous matter

In this study, we analyse 32 district court decisions regarding custody transfers from the birth parents to the foster parents in Sweden. When a child has been in foster care for three years, in order to enhance stability for child, the local social welfare committee considers a transferral of custody to the foster parents following an application to the district court. Although all but one of the decisions in our study favoured a custody transfer, the courts acknowledge different reasons for this. Specifically, there is vagueness about whether or not functioning contact between the child and birth parents is a hindrance in custody transfer. Our findings stress the need for clarification in the law regarding the criteria for custody transfer in order to reach a more unified judgment. Furthermore, the district courts do not sufficiently acknowledge children’s views, and we suggest that children and young people should be made more visible in the decision-making process.     

Job satisfaction among frontline police officers in China: the role of demographic,work-related,organizational and social factors

This study was intended to add to information about the underinvestigated policing studies in China. The possible impact of demographic characteristics, work-related variables, and organizational management and social variables on police job satisfaction was investigated. Data were collected through a self-report survey administered to a sample of sworn police officers training in a national police university in China (N?=?393). Results indicated that work-related characteristics associated with variety and stress, and organizational variables associated with professional development and peer cohesion were the most important predictors of job satisfaction in this sample of police officers.     

Examining the good lives model and antisocial behaviour

This study examined the utility of the Good Lives Model (GLM) (Ward, T., &; Stewart, C. A. (2003). The treatment of sex offenders: Risk management and good lives. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 34(4), 353–360. doi:10.1037/0735-7028.34.4.353) in understanding offending behaviour in students. Two hypotheses were made, consistent with the assumptions of the GLM. First, that participants would endorse the importance of the primary goods set out in the GLM. Second, that reports of antisocial behaviour would relate to a lack of effective strategies, or use of maladaptive strategies, to achieve primary goods. Participants (n?=?340, M age?=?20 years) completed a questionnaire (Measure of Life Priorities) assessing their pursuit, valuation, and achievement of the primary human goods as set out in the GLM and a Self-Report of Offending questionnaire. Results supported our hypotheses, and subsequently the assumptions of the GLM. Our findings support the continued use of the GLM as a theoretical and treatment oriented framework in diverse groups engaged in offending behaviour. Future research should continue to ground the GLM in empirical support.