What is Treatment? : Understandings and Responses of Workers to Child Sex Offenders

With the field of sex offender treatment is in its infancy, there is a tack of clarity concerning nearly all aspects of offending behaviour, from theoretical frameworks that explain why the offending occurs, to the effectiveness of different treatment techniques. This study sought to gain insight into workers\u27 understandings of the phenomenon of child sexual offending, and how these understandings informed their responses to child sex offender treatment. Locating the \u27sense making\u27 of workers within the context of a four dimensional systematic integration model; personal, professional, organisational and social influences and impacts were also explored. Currently practicing with child sex offenders, participants came from both statutory and non-statutory organisations. Based on a case study methodology, semi structured interviews were utilised to identify, acknowledge and validate the experiences of these workers, who seemed to previously have been overlooked within the literature. Research findings revealed for the workers in the study \u27practice\u27 with child sexual offenders does not happen in isolation. The practice of the worker is significantly impacted by the organisational and professional context of the work, by social attitudes towards child sex offenders and by personal feelings and reactions of the worker towards child sex offenders. The results importantly also indicate the often little recognised area of the impact of the work environment on the personal lives of the workers. The results also demonstrated a clear need for further support, training and professional development for workers in this area. The results raise issues in relation to the type and duration of practice expertise required by workers entering this area of practice. This sharing of these \u27sense making\u27 experiences, understandings and responses provided a valuable and enlightening contribution to the emerging body of knowledge on child sex offenders, child sex offender treatment, and more importantly, those workers who practice at the coalface

Modelling the marginal revenue of water in selected agricultural commodities: A panel data approach

South Africa is a water-stressed country where water availability is an important constraint to economic and social development, and will become even more so in the future if this scarce resource is not managed effectively. In order to manage this scarce supply of water, we need to value it. This study focuses on the value of water in the agricultural sector, in particular the marginal revenue of water for six irrigation commodities namely avocados, bananas, grapefruit, mangoes, oranges and sugarcane. A quadratic production function was fitted with an SUR model specification in a panel data study from 1975 to 2002 to obtain marginal revenue functions for each of the six commodities. We found that mangoes are the most efficient commodity in its water use relative to revenue generated (marginal revenue of water equals R25.43/m³ in 2002) and sugarcane the least efficient (marginal revenue of water equals R1.67/m³ in 2002). The marginal revenue of water is not an indication of the true “market” price. Neither is it an indication what the administered price should be. The marginal revenue of water is rather a guideline for policy makers to determine which industries or commodities within an industry can generate the largest revenue per unit water appliedResource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Social Ingredients and Conditional Convergence in the Study of Sectoral Growth

In this research article, we investigate the improved modelling ability and the outstanding policy advocacy of infusing health and education in sectoral growth equations of the South African economy. Our findings not only include improved and dependable modelling results but also provide distinct estimates of the returns on investment in health and education per sector using Iterative Seemingly Unrelated Regressions techniques. Additionally, this paper provides a theoretical description of the productivity effects of HIV/AIDS using sectoral equations. Also, this research investigates the diffusion process in the technological progress at the South African sectoral level and its impact on the study of social ingredients. Using a fixed effects model, some features of the diffusion process are explained.Coefficient of effectiveness, Diffusion process, Fixed effects model, Seemingly Unrelated Regressions

Modeling the Marginal Revenue of Water in Selected Agricultural Commodities: A Panel Date Approach

South Africa is a water-stressed country where water availability is an important constraint to economic and social development, and will become even more so in the future if this scarce resource is not managed effectively. In order to manage this scarce supply of water, we need to value it. This study focuses on the value of water in the agricultural sector, in particular the marginal revenue of water for six irrigation commodities namely avocados, bananas, grapefruit, mangoes, oranges and sugarcane. A quadratic production function was fitted with an SUR model specification in a panel data study from 1975 to 2002 to obtain marginal revenue functions for each of the six commodities. We found that mangoes are the most efficient commodity in its water use relative to revenue generated (marginal revenue of water equals R25.43/m3 in 2002) and sugarcane the least efficient (marginal revenue of water equals R1.67/m3 in 2002). The marginal revenue of water is not an indication of the true “market” price. Neither is it an indication what the administered price should be. The marginal revenue of water is rather a guideline for policy makers to determine which industries or commodities within an industry can generate the largest revenue per unit water applied.Marginal revenue, water efficiency, panel data

Remittances and the Dutch disease in Sub-Saharan Africa. A Dynamic Panel Approach

This paper investigates the effect of remittance inflows on the real exchange rate in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) using annual data from 1980 to 2008 for 34 SSA countries, generalised method of moments by Arellano and Bover (1995) andfeasible generalised least squares by Parks (1967) and Kmenta (1971, 1986). We find that when cross-sectional dependence and individual effects are controlled for, remittances to SSA as a whole appreciate the underlying real exchange rate ofrecipient countries. However the Dutch-disease effect is not experienced via the loss of export competitiveness, because the exchange rate appreciation is mitigated by monetary policy positioning and overdependence on imports due to low levels of domestic production in these countries. We also find reverse causality between remittances and the real exchange rate.Dutch disease, remittances, real exchange rate, Sub-Saharan Africa

Does South Africa Have the Potential and Capacity to Grow at 7 Per Cent?: A Labour Market Perspective

Facing the challenge to adjust, the question is to what extent South African markets, specifically labour and investment markets, are flexible enough to enhance its global competitiveness, without having to revert to inward domestic protectionism. In investigating the level of flexibility in this regard, we need to determine the adjustment potential or capacity of the South African economy. However, modelling potential output and/or capacity is problematic. Building on previous research, this paper’s estimation of potential output for South Africa is based on a structural production function relationship with the maximum level of output consistent with stable inflation, supported by a full-scale macro-econometric model which is primarily supply-side driven, with capacity utilisation (or the output gap) as one of the key drivers of economic activity. The extent to which capacity is utilised in the economy is determined (defined) by the actual output (gross domestic product) relative to the potential of the economy to generate gross domestic product. Following this approach, South Africa’s potential employment needs to be determined. Does the entire labour force of working age have the potential and necessary skills to fill the available vacancies in the job market? On the contrary, our belief is that there exist certain constraints/rigidities in the labour market, which reduce the ranks of the potentially employable. In order to capture this effect, we assume that some “equilibrium or natural rate of unemployment” exists. Therefore, we presuppose a NAWRU − a natural rate of unemployment consistent with stable wage inflation. Ideally speaking, the NAWRU of an economy should be stable and not trending. However, the estimate we obtain for the NAWRU of the South African economy is increasing at a steady rate, suggesting severe structural problems in the economy, in particular, the labour market. Using this calculated NAWRU, we obtain estimates for potential output based on the structural production function approach. Our results indicate that the capacity of the South African economy is lower than conventionally expected. This reveals the essence of the impediments on the South African economy, primarily due to the sizeable constraint posed by rising labour market disequilibrium.capacity utilisation, potential output, NAWRU, macro-econometric model

Social Ingredients and Conditional Convergence in the Study of Sectoral Growth

In this research article, we investigate the improved modelling ability and the outstanding policy advocacy of infusing health and education in sectoral growth equations of the South African economy. Our findings not only include improved and dependable modelling results but also provide distinct estimates of the returns on investment in health and education per sector using Iterative Seemingly Unrelated Regressions techniques. Additionally, this paper provides a theoretical description of the productivity effects of HIV/AIDS using sectoral equations. Also, this research investigates the diffusion process in the technological progress at the South African sectoral level and its impact on the study of social ingredients. Using a fixed effects model, some features of the diffusion process are explained.Coefficient of effectiveness; Diffusion process; Fixed effects model; Seemingly Unrelated Regressions

Gestión turística y desarrollo cultural de la Dirección Regional de Comercio Exterior y Turismo de Amazonas

La investigación realizada tuvo como objetivo general determinar la relación entre gestión turística y desarrollo cultural de la Dirección Regional de Comercio Exterior y Turismo de Amazonas. Este estudio fue básico, fundamentado en el paradigma positivista, enfoque cuantitativo, de diseño no experimental correlacional simple. La población estuvo conformada por 25 colaboradores. Se empleó la técnica de la encuesta con dos cuestionarios, uno por variable, integrado por 20 ítems cada cual, validados a juicio de expertos y determinado la confiabilidad, mediante el Alfa de Cronbach. La variable gestión turística se dimensionó a partir de la planificación turística, organización turística, ejecución y control turístico. La variable desarrollo cultural se dimensionó desde la identidad cultural, patrimonio cultural, interculturalidad y progreso comunitario. Se partió de la hipótesis que existe relación significativa entre la gestión turística y el desarrollo cultural en la DIRCETUR Amazonas, logrando precisar que se presenta un alto grado de significatividad, concluyendo que existe relación significativa regular positiva entre la gestión turística y el desarrollo cultural en la Dirección Regional de Comercio Exterior y Turismo de Amazonas

The combined honours student experience survey data and the perceptions of staff and students

Data analysis from the University Student Survey (2016) at Canterbury Christ Church University revealed that combined honours students (n=780) were less satisfied than single honours students. The qualitative comments of the students referred to concerns about identifying with and belonging to the programme; and self confidence. In addition, on one programme (n=89), combined honours student were less satisfied than their single honours classmates on 18 of the 22 USS satisfaction measure statements. Three focus group with staff on this programme (n=18) and interviews with students (n=8) were undertaken to investigate the issues of lack of satisfaction further. This paper will report on the ongoing investigation and the potential development of learning and teaching interventions