Evaluability Assessment: A Systematic Approach to Deciding Whether and How to Evaluate Programmes and Policies

Evaluability assessment (EA) is a systematic approach to planning evaluation projects. It involves structured engagement by researchers with stakeholders to clarify intervention goals and how they are expected to be achieved, the development and evaluation of a logic model or theory of change, and provision of advice on whether or not an evaluation can be carried out at reasonable cost, and what methods should be used. To date, EA has been relatively little used in the UK, but it has begun to attract attention as a way of balancing the growing demand for evaluation with the limited resource available. As well as providing a sound basis for making decisions about whether and how to evaluate before resources are committed, EA can improve the translation of research into practice by ensuring that policy-makers and practitioners are involved from the beginning in developing and appraising evaluation options. Two EAs have recently been conducted in Scotland, which provide a model that can be applied to a wide range of interventions, programmes and policies at national, regional and local levels. What Works Scotland is keen to work with Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs) to identify opportunities for EA

Development of an intelligent interface for adding spatial objects to a knowledge-based geographic information system

Earth Scientists lack adequate tools for quantifying complex relationships between existing data layers and studying and modeling the dynamic interactions of these data layers. There is a need for an earth systems tool to manipulate multi-layered, heterogeneous data sets that are spatially indexed, such as sensor imagery and maps, easily and intelligently in a single system. The system can access and manipulate data from multiple sensor sources, maps, and from a learned object hierarchy using an advanced knowledge-based geographical information system. A prototype Knowledge-Based Geographic Information System (KBGIS) was recently constructed. Many of the system internals are well developed, but the system lacks an adequate user interface. A methodology is described for developing an intelligent user interface and extending KBGIS to interconnect with existing NASA systems, such as imagery from the Land Analysis System (LAS), atmospheric data in Common Data Format (CDF), and visualization of complex data with the National Space Science Data Center Graphics System. This would allow NASA to quickly explore the utility of such a system, given the ability to transfer data in and out of KBGIS easily. The use and maintenance of the object hierarchies as polymorphic data types brings, to data management, a while new set of problems and issues, few of which have been explored above the prototype level

Correlation Study Between Subjective and Objective Scene Classifications

In addition to the quality of an original (transparency or reflection) preferred halftone reproduction is also dependent on scene classification. That is, how the tones of the original are rendered. If the majority of the picture area contains light tones, it is referred to as a high key image. Should the majority of picture area be confined to dark tones, it is referred to as a low key image. When the picture area is composed of the entire tone scale (white, grays, and black), it is referred to as a normal key image. The problem of how to objectively classify images into high, normal, and low key scene classification still continues in the graphic arts. The intent of this thesis was to deter mine if a scanning device could be attached to a HCM 286 Color Scanner and applied to a correlation study between the classification and ranking of images by observers and that of an objective measure of the images. One experiment was devoted to psycho-physical testing in which several black and white photographs were subjectively classified and ranked into high, normal, and low key image types. Installation of the scanning device revealed complications that made it necessary to go ahead and obtain the objective data by using manual density measurements and a computer to derive the images\u27 tone distribution curves (TDCs). The TDC is a statistical representation of the images\u27 tone information; not a test object. Because of the tediousness of manual density measurement brought about by the inavailability of the scanning device, only eight images were measured objectively. Based on the complexity of their TDC shapes, the existence of a real relationship between subjective and objective scene classification cannot be inferred presently. It is believed that this relationship can be found when a larger sample size of objective data is available. However, it is only reasonable to consider a larger sample size when a less tedious method becomes available, such as the scanning device. Discussions and recommendations are also given for further investigation between sequential viewing (one image at a time) and simultaneous viewing (all images at one time)

Effects of Shiftwork on Air Force Aircraft Maintenance Personnel

This study examined the effects of converting a large aircraft maintenance squadron from 8-hour shifts to 12-hour shifts. The squadron studied converted its 24- hour maintenance work force from three 8-hour work shifts to two 12-hour work shifts incrementally, with one section converting to 12-hour shifts in January, 1996, and the remaining section converting in July, 1996. Both sections remained on 12-hour shifts until September, 1997, when both sections converted back to a three shift 8-hour operation. Health and well being, on- and off-duty accident rates, day shift vs. night shift accident rates, and the effects of stress and fatigue on specific satisfactions, job dissatisfaction, and reenlistment intentions were examined. Results showed an increase in hospital visits when 12-hour shifts were employed, as well as an increase in hospital visits immediately following all schedule changes. There were no significant differences in 8-hour and 12-hour shifts on and off-duty accident rates or day and night shift accident rates. Reported levels of fatigue were significantly greater when 12-hour shifts were used. Tension was greater while on 12-hour shifts, but did not decrease significantly until a few months after the conversion back to 8-hour shifts

Liberalism and the problem of colonial rule : three-stages in Anglo-American thought

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-61).From as early as the 15th century when European explorers rounded the tip of Africa in search of trade routes to the East, until the early twentieth century, the West, through the territorial expansion of empire, established itself as the dominant authority within the global political order. Ideologically inspired conflicts in the first half of the twentieth century, Cold War tensions and the process of decolonization, however, resulted in a fundamental change in the nature of this power and global influence, and led to the construction of a new global order that had never existed before. After centuries of being structured around the power of a few European countries with colonial subjects, the post-colonial order was based on formal equality between states, where the notion of territorial expansion and paternal rule were no longer accepted practices. Instead, power within the international system was determined by economic competition and the notion of 'civilization' was replaced by the ideal of economic development, predominantly through the forces of the international capitalist system. The aim of the following chapters is to highlight the dominant discourse of the AngloAmerican liberal tradition within the context of the changing global order, and argue, more specifically, that the process of decolonization can be used as a lens through which changes reflecting how the 'liberal task' was conceived within Anglo-American political thought, can be traced. Furthermore, it aims to show that Anglo-American political philosophy in the postcolonial era can understood as a part of a larger historical process. dating back to the work John Stuart Mill in the early nineteenth century. By contrasting the liberalisms of Mill, the British Idealists and Isaiah Berlin, and their responses to the question of colonial rule, this history sheds light on the fundamental impulses of the liberal tradition between the colonial and post-colonial periods. It is widely known that Mill was employed by the East India Company and that the subject of colonial rule, to some extent, informed his liberalism

Education

In the late twentieth century historians of education came to argue that the urban experience can only be fully understood through the social processes and social relations associated with schooling. The new 'social history' of education has thus often been closely aligned to the history of cities. In Australia the 'new' social history of the city has often been written in terms of family formation, sometimes related to the history of childhood, but there has only been marginal attention to the specific nature of education in Sydney as an urban phenomenon. This essay focuses on Sydney schools and other educational institutions, although it raises questions about social processes and social formations. It suggests that the history of education in Sydney can be understood in a number of phases and themes, each related to the changing social history of Sydney. Informal education had long been part of the culture of indigenous society prior to the British invasion of 1788. In the early colonial period, up to about 1830, governments established schools for the children of convicts based in Sydney and even for Aboriginal children. There were also 'private venture' schools for the sons and sometimes daughters of free settlers. In the period from 1830 to 1870 the city of Sydney emerged as a metropolitan centre of educational establishments including schools, colleges and the University. From around 1870 to the end of World War II, with the growth of the city of Sydney and its suburbs, schooling was increasingly related to social class, gender and religion as part of suburban life. From 1945, the 'neighbourhood' school and even the 'local' university has become part of a pattern of regional differences associated with the expansion of the city through migration and population growth

Engaging boys through self-reflection using an online journaling tool

The study reported here investigated whether Year 6 boys were engaged through the use of an online journaling tool. This journaling tool allowed the students to self reflect on their behaviour and affective reaction in an online environment. Case study methodology was used with twelve boys from a regional primary school in Victoria, during the one school term of ten weeks. This online journaling website allowed the boys to log in securely, set goals, reflect on their goals as well as keep a reflective journal measuring their cognitive, affective and behavioural engagement. The results suggest that the online journaling tool does prompt self reflection by the students. Online journaling was also shown to provide a means to engage students

Results of the 2001 Becoming an Outdoor-Woman Survey

INHS Human Dimensions Research Program and Illinois Department of Natural Resourcesunpublishednot peer reviewedOpe