scholarly journals Are Perceptions of Local Conditions Rooted in Reality? Evidence From Two Large-Scale Local Surveys

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-474
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Holbrook ◽  
Aaron C. Weinschenk
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Retrospective Voting ◽  
Local Officials ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Objective Indicators

In this research note, we test an assumption that is often made in the literature on local retrospective voting—that peoples’ perceptions of local conditions are well-grounded in reality. To do so, we examine the relationship between objective measures of local conditions and aggregated survey measures of perceptions of those conditions. We focus on three different conditions that have been shown to influence vote choice and approval at the local level—the state of the local economy, the quality of local public schools, and levels of local crime—and find strong evidence that perceptions of these conditions reflect actual local conditions. This important and previously unreported finding helps bolster the connections some scholars have found between objective indicators and election outcomes at the local level, as those indicators are tied to mass perceptions of related local conditions, which are connected to evaluations of incumbents. Overall, our results indicate that local electorates are well-positioned to hold local officials responsible. Given the general conception of the local electorate as disengaged, the strength and consistency of our findings are somewhat unexpected.

scholarly journals Information, Political Bias, and Public Perceptions of Local Conditions in U.S. Cities

2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 221-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Holbrook ◽  
Aaron C. Weinschenk
Keyword(s):  
Information Acquisition ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Local Perceptions ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Local Schools ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Influence Perceptions

Using two unique surveys, one that includes over 6,000 respondents interviewed across 39 cities and another that includes over 47,000 respondents interviewed across 26 U.S. cities, we investigate the extent to which perceptions of local conditions—the state of the local economy, the quality of local schools, and local crime—reflect actual local conditions. We examine individual-level differences in the accuracy of perceptions of local conditions using two different frameworks, one that emphasizes factors that limit information acquisition and may exacerbate political inequalities, and another that emphasizes motivations for information processing. Objective conditions influence perceptions of conditions, but the relationship between objective and perceived local conditions is strongest among individuals with high levels of education and preexisting knowledge. In addition, we find that partisanship plays a role in shaping perceptions of local conditions. While the partisan match between a respondent and the mayor of their city has little effect on local perceptions, the match between a respondent’s partisanship and the president’s party has a strong effect on perceptions of the local economy.

scholarly journals Are “Internet+” tactics the key to poverty alleviation in China’s rural ethnic minority areas? Empirical evidence from Sichuan Province

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang Yin ◽  
Zhiyi Meng ◽  
Xin Yi ◽  
Yong Wang ◽  
Xia Hua
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
Poverty Alleviation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Sichuan Province ◽  
Infrastructure Investment ◽  
Communication Infrastructure ◽  
Gdp Growth Rate ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Positive Effect

AbstractChina has made great efforts to alleviate poverty in rural ethnic minority areas and targeted achieving the poverty-alleviation task by the end of 2020. Aba, Ganzi, and Liangshan, three of the poorest ethnic prefectures in Sichuan Province, Southwest China, have all implemented “Internet+” tactics since 2013, which have had the positive effect of increasing family revenues by improving communication infrastructure and encouraging the large-scale use of e-commerce. This paper aims to comprehensively investigate whether “Internet+” tactics play a key role in poverty alleviation in Sichuan’s rural ethnic minority areas and to propose further measures to enhance the efficiency of e-commerce practice. To this end, we conduct an analysis using the framework of classic growth theory and use panel data from 2000 to 2018 to examine the relationship between Communication Infrastructure Investment (CII) and a set of poverty-alleviation indicators, including local GDP growth rate (LGGR), local government revenue (LGR), and per-capita income of residents (PCIR). The results indicate that strengthening CII improves the PCIR and local economic growth, playing a key role in poverty alleviation. However, the stimulation of CII on LGGR and LGR wanes as time passes. More financial and technical actions will be needed to improve the efficiency and quality of current strategies for sustainable development in those areas.

scholarly journals Proactive Health Support: Exploring Face-to-Face Start-Up Sessions Between Participants and Registered Nurses at the Onset of Telephone-Based Self-Management Support

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 233339362093002
Author(s):  
Susanne Winther ◽  
Mia Fredens ◽  
Marie Brund Hansen ◽  
Kirstine Skov Benthien ◽  
Camilla Palmhøj Nielsen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Registered Nurses ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Management Support ◽  
Continuous Contact ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Start Up ◽  
Health Support ◽  
The Relationship

Proactive Health Support (PaHS) is a large-scale intervention in Denmark carried out by registered nurses (RNs) who provide self-management support to people at risk of hospital admission to enhance their health, coping, and quality of life. PaHS is initiated with a face-to-face session followed by telephone conversations. We aimed to explore the start-up sessions, including if and how the relationship between participants and RNs developed at the onset of PaHS. We used an ethnographic design including observations and informal interviews. Data were analyzed using a phenomenological–hermeneutical approach. The study showed that contexts such as hospitals and RNs legitimized the intervention. Face-to-face communication contributed to credibility, just as the same RN throughout the intervention ensured continuity. We conclude that start-up sessions before telephone-based self-management support enable a trust-based relationship between participants and RNs. Continuous contact with the same RNs throughout the session promoted participation in the intervention.

scholarly journals Contrasts in Innovation: Pittsburgh Then and Now

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J Madison
Keyword(s):  
Steel Industry ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Production Model ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Industrial Economy ◽  
Industrial Regions ◽  
Post Industrial ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

Assessments of the relationship among law, innovation, and economic growth often begin with one or more propositions of law or law practice and predict how changes might affect innovation or business practice. This approach is problematic when applied to questions of regional economic development, because historic and contemporary local conditions vary considerably. This paper takes a different tack. It takes a snapshot of one recovering post-industrial economy, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. For most of the 20th century, Pittsburgh's steelmakers were leading examples worldwide of American economic prowess. Pittsburgh was so vibrant with industry that a late 19th century travel writer called Pittsburgh "hell with the lid taken off," and he meant that as a compliment. In the early 1980s, however, Pittsburgh's steel economy collapsed, a victim of changing worldwide demand for steel and the industry's inflexible commitment to a large-scale integrated production model. As the steel industry collapsed, the Pittsburgh region collapsed, too. Unemployment in some parts of the Pittsburgh region peaked at 20%. More than 100,000 manufacturing jobs disappeared. Tens of thousands of residents moved away annually. Over the last 30 years, Pittsburgh has slowly recovered, building a new economy that balances limited manufacturing with a broad range of high quality services. In 2009, President Barack Obama took note of the region's rebirth by selecting the city to host a summit of the Group of 20 (G-20) finance ministers. The paper describes the characteristics of Pittsburgh today and measures the state of its renewal. It considers the extent, if any, to which law and the legal system have contributed to Pittsburgh's modern success, and it identifies lessons that this Pittsburgh case study might offer for other recovering and transitioning post-industrial regions.

scholarly journals Field Experiments in Class Size from the Early Twentieth Century

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 211-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonah Rockoff
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Class Size ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
The Other ◽  
World War ◽  
Mixed Messages

A vast majority of adults believe that class size reductions are a good way to improve the quality of public schools. Reviews of the research literature, on the other hand, have provided mixed messages on the degree to which class size matters for student achievement. Here I will discuss a substantial, but overlooked, body of experimental work on class size that developed prior to World War II. These field experiments did not have the benefit of modern econometrics, and only a few were done on a reasonably large scale. However, they often used careful empirical designs, and the collective magnitude of this body of work is considerable. Moreover, this research produced little evidence to suggest that students learn more in smaller classes, which stands in contrast to some, though not all, of the most recent work by economists. In this essay, I provide an overview of the scope and breadth of the field experiments in class size conducted prior to World War II, the motivations behind them, and how their experimental designs were crafted to deal with perceived sources of bias. I discuss how one might interpret the findings of these early experimental results alongside more recent research.

scholarly journals Understanding the relationship between postpartum depression one month and six months after delivery and mother-infant bonding failure one-year after birth: results from the Japan Environment and Children's study (JECS)

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haruka Kasamatsu ◽  
Akiko Tsuchida ◽  
Kenta Matsumura ◽  
Moeko Shimao ◽  
Kei Hamazaki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Postpartum Depression ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Depression Scale ◽  
Japanese Version ◽  
Mental Health Issue ◽  
Bonding Failure ◽  
One Year ◽  
Adjusted Model ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractBackgroundPostpartum depression is a major mental health issue. It not only adversely affects the mother's quality of life, but also mother-infant bonding. However, the relationship between postpartum depression (at multiple points after childbirth) and mother-infant bonding failure one year after birth is not well understood. This study investigates the relationship between postpartum depression at 1-month and 6-month after birth and mother-infant bonding failure at 1 year after birth with a large cohort.MethodsData from 83 109 mothers from the Japan Environment and Children's Study were analyzed. Mother-infant bonding 1-year after delivery was assessed using the Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale Japanese version (MIBS-J). Postpartum depression was measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at 1-month and 6-month after delivery. Twenty covariates during pregnancy and one month after delivery were controlled for deriving the odds ratios (ORs) describing postpartum depression to mother-infant bonding.ResultsEPDS Total Score crude ORs and adjusted ORs against the MIBS-J Total Score at 1-month and 6-month after delivery were calculated. Crude ORs were 1.111 (95% CI 1.110–1.112) and 1.122 (95% CI 1.121–1.124) respectively. In the fully adjusted model, ORs were 1.088 (95% CI 1.086–1.089) and 1.085 (95% CI 1.083–1.087), respectively.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated prospectively, in a large-scale cohort, that depression at multiple postpartum points, including associations with each EPDS and MIBS-J factors, may be a robust predictor of mother-infant bonding failure 1-year after birth.

scholarly journals The Prognostic Value of Autophagy-Related Markers Bclin-1 and LC-3 in Colorectal Cancers: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Jin-xiao Li ◽  
Qian Yan ◽  
Na Liu ◽  
Wen-jiang Zheng ◽  
Man Hu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Prognostic Significance ◽  
Beclin 1 ◽  
Cochrane Library ◽  
Comprehensive Treatment ◽  
Newcastle Ottawa Scale ◽  
Related Proteins ◽  
The Relationship

Objective. At present, the relationship between autophagosomes and the prognosis of various cancers has become a subject of active investigation. A series of studies have demonstrated the correlation between autophagy microtubule-associated protein light chain 3 (LC-3), Beclin-1, and colorectal cancer (CRC). Since autophagy has dual regulatory roles in tumors, the results of this correlation are also uncertain. Hence, we summarized the relationship between Beclin-1, LC-3, and CRC using systematic reviews and meta-analysis to clarify their prognostic significance in it. Methods. PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases were searched online up to April 1, 2019. The quality of the involving studies was assessed against the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). Pooled hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) in a fixed or random effects model were used to assess the strength of correlation between Beclin-1, LC-3, and CRC. Results. A total of 9 articles were collected, involving 2,297 patients. Most literatures scored more than 6 points, suggesting that the quality of our including research was acceptable. Our finding suggested that the expression of Beclin-1 was not associated with overall survival (HR = 0.68, 95% CI (0.31–1.52), P=0.351). Nonetheless, LC-3 expression exerted significant impact on OS (HR = 0.51, 95% CI (0.35–0.74), P<0.05). Subgroup analysis exhibited that Beclin-1 expression was associated with OS at TNM stage III (HR = 0.04, 95% CI = 0.02–0.08, P<0.05), surgical treatment (HR = 1.53, 95% CI (1.15–2.02), P=0.003), and comprehensive treatment (HR = 0.27 95% CI (0.08–0.92), P=0.036), respectively. Similarly, the results showed the increased LC-3 expression in CRC was related to OS in multivariate analyses (HR = 0.44, 95% CI (0.34–0.57), P<0.05), stages (HR = 0.51, 95% CI (0.35–0.74), P<0.05), and comprehensive treatment (HR = 0.44, 95% CI (0.34–0.57), P<0.05). Conclusions. Autophagy-related proteins of LC-3 might be an important marker of CRC progression. However, since the number of the original studies was limited, more well-designed, large-scale, high-quality studies are warranted to provide more convincing and reliable information.

scholarly journals National-Local Networks and Immigration Governance

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-376
Author(s):  
Jill L. Tao
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Immigration Policy ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Local Autonomy ◽  
Local Networks ◽  
Local Officials ◽  
The Impact

The ability to regulate the flow of goods, capital and people across borders is one of the defining characteristics of nation-state political power. But there is not always agreement between the central government and local officials as to the desirability of immigration, where local governments may desire greater, or fewer, numbers of immigrants, depending on the local economy and labor needs. In South Korea, a unitary form of government offers an opportunity to examine the policy distance between the national government’s stance on immigration based on the politics of the ruling party, and the attitudes of local officials who work for metropolitan-level governments (those with a population of one million or more). I look at the impact of local economic market needs on local attitudes towards national immigration policy through the lens of intergovernmental relations and Lipsky’s concept of bureaucratic discretion. Comparing two cases drawn from local governments in South Korea with dissimilar economic bases but similar levels of local autonomy, I find that economic needs at the local level are addressed by local approaches to immigration policy. Contrary to expectations, the cases illustrate the relative importance of fiscal autonomy and a new understanding for political autonomy. These cases illustrate the need for caution when applying political and institutional theory within new contexts and offer new variables for future investigations of local autonomy.

scholarly journals TEAviisari – benchmarking health promotion capacity-building in Finnish municipalities

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
V Saaristo ◽  
P E S Hakamäki ◽  
J K Ikonen ◽  
N S Saukko ◽  
K K Wiss ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Policy ◽  
High Coverage ◽  
Management Planning ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Objective Indicators

Abstract Issue In Finland, municipalities are responsible for promoting public health on local level. However, there hasn’t been comparable nationwide information on health promotion processes and resources in different municipalities available. In order to enhance evidence-based management, a nationwide online database and user interface called TEAviisari (http://teaviisari.fi/en/) was released in 2010. Description TEAviisari is based on a generic health promotion capacity-building framework consisting of seven dimensions: commitment, management, monitoring and needs assessment, resources, common practices, participation, and other core functions. Each dimension consists of several indicators. TEAviisari aims to make measures taken by local authorities visible and to provide comparable and objective indicators for the management, planning, and evaluation of health promotion activities in different sectors of administration in all municipalities. Results Most of the data are collected biennially with an electronic form by municipal informants, and complemented with register data. Sectors covered are primary health care; comprehensive, upper secondary and vocational education; sport and physical activity; culture; and municipal management. Exceptionally high coverage (76%-97%) supports the quality of the follow-up data. In order to simplify the interpretation, all data are displayed as summary scores ranging from zero to 100, where 100 stands for a desirable quality. It is possible to drill down into more detailed information, all the way down to single indicators. Lessons Our work shows that it is possible to collect comparable data on health promotion practices and resources in municipalities. TEAviisari offers access to relevant, interpreted information for decision-makers on all levels, serving as an assessment and planning tool for the local government, making their actions transparent to the residents, and providing information for national policy-making.

DO INNOVATIVE ORGANISATIONS COMPETE ON SINGLE OR MULTIPLE OPERATIONAL CAPABILITIES?

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (03) ◽  
pp. 1440001
Author(s):  
ALKA ASHWINI NAND ◽  
PRAKASH J. SINGH ◽  
ANANYA BHATTACHARYA
Keyword(s):  
Cost Efficiency ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Manufacturing Plants ◽  
Operational Level ◽  
Operational Capabilities ◽  
Quality Of Products ◽  
Operations Capabilities ◽  
The Relationship

Organisations lack clear guidance on how they can become more innovative at the operational level. The operations strategy literature shows that organisations compete on four generic capabilities: cost efficiency, quality of products or services, speed of delivery, and flexibility of operations. Should organisations choose between these capabilities, i.e., engage in trading-off these capabilities and focussing on one capability ("trade-off" model), or combine them, thereby competing on multiple capabilities simultaneously ("cumulative capabilities" model), remains an unresolved issue. Our paper addresses this by empirically testing the relationship between the four operations capabilities and innovation performance through a large-scale global study of manufacturing plants. Our results show support for the cumulative capabilities model and not the trade-off model. Furthermore, both delivery and flexibility capabilities are comparatively stronger predictors of innovativeness than cost efficiency and quality capabilities. This study provides interesting insights for practitioners and managers in generating clearer guidelines as to what organisations need to do with their key operational capabilities, in order to become more innovative.

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