Evaluation of the Fighting Back Initiative

This case study describes an evaluation of a large-scale, multi-site effort to harness community-generated strategies to reduce the use and abuse of alcohol and illegal drugs. The findings of this controversial study were sharply questioned by stakeholders and the case illustrates how important issues of program design affected evaluation finding

Home Visitation: A Case Study of Evaluation at The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

This case study describes how a long-term investment in evaluation was instrumental to a foundation strategy to support home visitation and education to parents about effective interaction with their young children. The case illustrates the substantial impact an evaluation can have on a field

Creating Momentum: The Atlantic Philanthropies' Investments to Repeal the Death Penalty in the United States

The Atlantic Philanthropies invested about $60 million between 2004 and 2016 to support efforts to repeal the death penalty in the United States. To assess the effectiveness of this work and to generate lessons for human rights activists and other funders involved in the repeal movement, the foundation commissioned this evaluation. The findings contained in this report are the result of extensive documentation review as well as interviews with foundation and grantee board and staff

Nonadditivity of intermolecular forces - Effects on the third virial coefficient

Effects of nonadditive three body forces on third virial coefficien

The Devolution Initiative Evaluation: Innovation and Learning at the W. K. Kellogg Foundation

This case study describes the evaluation of a foundation initiative designed to foster learning about government investments to devolve major responsibilities for welfare reform and health care policy from the federal government to the states. The initiative's goal was also to mobilize advocates to respond to information as implications of the studies unfolded. The evaluation had multiple components, which included providing timely, continuous feedback to the foundation about how the initiative was -- or was not -- working. As a case, it illustrates the difficulties of crafting a theory of change for an ever evolving program across multiple stakeholders within and external to a foundation

Measurement of outflow facility using iPerfusion

Elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) is the predominant risk factor for glaucoma, and reducing IOP is the only successful strategy to prevent further glaucomatous vision loss. IOP is determined by the balance between the rates of aqueous humour secretion and outflow, and a pathological reduction in the hydraulic conductance of outflow, known as outflow facility, is responsible for IOP elevation in glaucoma. Mouse models are often used to investigate the mechanisms controlling outflow facility, but the diminutive size of the mouse eye makes measurement of outflow technically challenging. In this study, we present a new approach to measure and analyse outflow facility using iPerfusion™, which incorporates an actuated pressure reservoir, thermal flow sensor, differential pressure measurement and an automated computerised interface. In enucleated eyes from C57BL/6J mice, the flow-pressure relationship is highly non-linear and is well represented by an empirical power law model that describes the pressure dependence of outflow facility. At zero pressure, the measured flow is indistinguishable from zero, confirming the absence of any significant pressure independent flow in enucleated eyes. Comparison with the commonly used 2-parameter linear outflow model reveals that inappropriate application of a linear fit to a non-linear flow-pressure relationship introduces considerable errors in the estimation of outflow facility and leads to the false impression of pressure-independent outflow. Data from a population of enucleated eyes from C57BL/6J mice show that outflow facility is best described by a lognormal distribution, with 6-fold variability between individuals, but with relatively tight correlation of facility between fellow eyes. iPerfusion represents a platform technology to accurately and robustly characterise the flow-pressure relationship in enucleated mouse eyes for the purpose of glaucoma research and with minor modifications, may be applied in vivo to mice, as well as to eyes from other species or different biofluidic systems