Collaboration Among Human Service Nonprofit Organizations: Mapping Formal and Informal Networks of Exchange

Much of the current debates in the social service delivery have focused on the blurring boundaries between three sectors - the nonprofit, business and public sector. Surprisingly no empirical research has been given to this phenomenon from macro and comparative perspectives. First contribution of the study to is the conceptual and methodological model to link organization and strategic management theory with network theory. The study calls this new framework as collaboration network. Second, this survey of 33 nonprofit organizations in the Allegheny County, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania uncovers the hidden patterns of collaboration between the sectors including empirical evidence of blurring boundaries. In order to reveal the hidden patterns of collaboration, the study adopts blockmodel from network analysis that is useful to reduce complex networks into concise and easily understandable forms. Major findings uncovered by network analysis are; 1) Network structures are different according to specific types of collaboration relationships. Network structures become less dense as the collaborative relationships intensify. While nonprofits do not have to spend much of their valuable resources such as time and money on maintaining informal or infrequent information sharing or work referral relations, nonprofits should commit themselves to maintaining intensive relations such as formal contract or joint program. In addition, the types of six network structures are different from each other. For example, while formal contract network is shaped as a cohesive subgroup structure, resource sharing network shows a central-periphery system. 2) When three sector organizations are participated in the work referral network, the social service system emerges. Three sectors play a unique role respectively - a sender for public agencies, a service provider for businesses. As a major actor in the social service field, nonprofits not only play these two roles, but also play a coordinating or broker role between three sectors. 3) When either of the business or public sector is introduced in the collaboration network, new network structures replace the network structure which is composed exclusively of nonprofits. For example, when the public sector is involved in the formal contract network, the network structure changes from a cohesive subgroup system to a hierarchy system

An exploratory study on the potential of social enterprise to act as the institutional glue of network governance

This study combines two topics of contemporary salience for public administration: social enterprise and governance networks. While operating at different levels, both are institutions which attempt to draw together the three pillars of state, market, and civil society. Nevertheless, the respective literatures focus on particular aspects of the three pillars. We connect the two concepts and suggest that some social enterprises can act as the institutional glue of networks due to their ability to benefit organizations in each of the three sectors. This requires social enterprises to have the managerial capacity to diffuse social know-how, and is facilitated by the trust of other organizations and a supportive policy framework. The links are explicated at the conceptual level before providing evidence from South Korea and the UK. Finally, research propositions are offered, which suggest new avenues for future research

Distorted policy transfer? South Korea’s adaptation of UK social enterprise policy

This study draws upon communicative processes in policy transfer to consider the ways in which policy may be adapted to context or distorted. The theoretical framework is used to investigate exactly what the South Korean government borrowed from UK social enterprise policy. Despite claims that the UK was the source of both the general policy direction and the particular regulatory device, the Korean government did not learn about the specific contexts of the British policy, nor attempt two-way communication with domestic stakeholders. Rather, the UK policy was interpreted in accordance with the Korean government’s own ideas about how to utilize social enterprise. Historical legacies of top-down decision-making played an important role in this process, as did the state’s role as a regulator which mobilizes the private sector to achieve policy goals. The consequences have been negative for those organizations refused social enterprise status under the Ministry of Labor’s strict approval system, as well as for the original target population: the socially disadvantaged and vulnerable. It is suggested that the model advanced may help to illuminate the reasons why some borrowed policies differ considerably from the originals, and the use of policy transfer as a means of legitimizatio

NiFe Layered Double Hydroxide Electrocatalysts for an Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Alkaline electrolysis is one of the most promising among gas-to-power technologies to produce hydrogen energy where the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) plays an important role. It has recently been demonstrated that the OER activity of layered double hydroxide (LDH) could be enhanced by accommodating more abundant active sites that offer optimal binding energies between intermediates. Here, we report a study of nickel iron layered double hydroxides by varying the Ni:Fe atomic ratio of the Ni1-xFex-LDH to induce changes to their physiochemical properties through which the optimum OER performance is determined. Optimized NiFe-LDH-38 (Ni0.62Fe0.38LDH) shows an excellent OER performance in alkaline electrolyte, demonstrating a potential of 1.45 V (vs RHE) at 100 mA cm(-2), which outperforms the commercial RuO2 catalyst. Also, computational simulations support the OER performance of the single NiFe-LDH phase (NF-LDH-38). This work provides not only a fundamental understanding of the effect of the Ni:Fe atomic ratio of the Ni1-xFex-LDH on OER performance but also the design strategy of lowcost, earth abundant, and active electrocatalysts toward water oxidation

CoFeS2@CoS2 Nanocubes Entangled with CNT for Efficient Bifunctional Performance for Oxygen Evolution and Oxygen Reduction Reactions

Exploring bifunctional electrocatalysts to lower the activation energy barriers for sluggish electrochemical reactions for both the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) are of great importance in achieving lower energy consumption and higher conversion efficiency for future energy conversion and storage system. Despite the excellent performance of precious metal-based electrocatalysts for OER and ORR, their high cost and scarcity hamper their large-scale industrial application. As alternatives to precious metal-based electrocatalysts, the development of earth-abundant and efficient catalysts with excellent electrocatalytic performance in both the OER and the ORR is urgently required. Herein, we report a core–shell CoFeS2@CoS2 heterostructure entangled with carbon nanotubes as an efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst for both the OER and the ORR. The CoFeS2@CoS2 nanocubes entangled with carbon nanotubes show superior electrochemical performance for both the OER and the ORR: a potential of 1.5 V (vs. RHE) at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 for the OER in alkaline medium and an onset potential of 0.976 V for the ORR. This work suggests a processing methodology for the development of the core–shell heterostructures with enhanced bifunctional performance for both the OER and the ORR

Synthesis of NiCo2O4 Nanostructures and Their Electrochemial Properties for Glucose Detection

In this work, we prepared spinel-type NiCo2O4 (NCO) nanopowders as a low-cost and sensitive electrochemical sensor for nonenzymatic glucose detection. A facile and simple chemical bath method to synthesize the NCO nanopowders is demonstrated. The effect of pH and annealing temperature on the formation mechanism of NCO nanoparticles was systematically investigated. Our studies show that different pHs of the precursor solution during synthesis result in different intermediate phases and relating chemical reactions for the formation of NCO nanoparticles. Different morphologies of the NCO depending on pHs are also discussed based on the mechanism of growth. Electrochemical performance of the prepared NCO was characterized towards glucose, which reveals that sensitivity and selectivity of the NCO are significantly related with the final microstructure combined with constituent species with multiple oxidation states in the spinel structure