The development of a planning system in the U.S.

Thesis. 1976. M.C.P.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.Microfiche copy available in Archives and Rotch.Includes bibliographical references.by Harold L. Wolman.M.C.P

What is a Central City in the United States? Applying a Statistical Technique for Developing Taxonomies

Develops a method that uses cluster analysis to group central cities in the United States. Selection of the candidate cluster solutions; Median characteristics of the clusters; Stressed central cities; Healthy central cities

What is a Central City in the United States? Applying a Statistical Technique for Developing Taxonomies

Develops a method that uses cluster analysis to group central cities in the United States. Selection of the candidate cluster solutions; Median characteristics of the clusters; Stressed central cities; Healthy central cities

Molecular-Genetic Mapping of Zebrafish Mutants with Variable Phenotypic Penetrance

Forward genetic screens in vertebrates are powerful tools to generate models relevant to human diseases, including neuropsychiatric disorders. Variability in phenotypic penetrance and expressivity is common in these disorders and behavioral mutant models, making their molecular-genetic mapping a formidable task. Using a ‘phenotyping by segregation’ strategy, we molecularly map the hypersensitive zebrafish houdini mutant despite its variable phenotypic penetrance, providing a generally applicable strategy to map zebrafish mutants with subtle phenotypes

Association between Inflammation and Cardiac Geometry in Chronic Kidney Disease: Findings from the CRIC Study.

Background Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and myocardial contractile dysfunction are independent predictors of mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The association between inflammatory biomarkers and cardiac geometry has not yet been studied in a large cohort of CKD patients with a wide range of kidney function. Methods Plasma levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA), IL-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β, high-sensitivity C-Reactive protein (hs-CRP), fibrinogen and serum albumin were measured in 3,939 Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort study participants. Echocardiography was performed according to the recommendations of the American Society of Echocardiography and interpreted at a centralized core laboratory. Results LVH, systolic dysfunction and diastolic dysfunction were present in 52.3%, 11.8% and 76.3% of the study subjects, respectively. In logistic regression analysis adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, diabetic status, current smoking status, systolic blood pressure, urinary albumin- creatinine ratio and estimated glomerular filtration rate, hs-CRP (OR 1.26 [95% CI 1.16, 1.37], p Conclusion In patients with CKD, elevated plasma levels of hs-CRP and IL-6 are associated with LVH and systolic dysfunction

The motivations for the adoption of management innovation by local governments and its performance effects

This article analyses the economic, political and institutional antecedents and performance effects of the adoption of shared Senior Management Teams (SMTs) – a management innovation (MI) that occurs when a team of senior managers oversees two or more public organizations. Findings from statistical analysis of 201 English local governments and interviews with organizational leaders reveal that shared SMTs are adopted to develop organisational capacity in resource‐challenged, politically risk‐averse governments, and in response to coercive and mimetic institutional pressures. Importantly, sharing SMTs may reduce rather than enhance efficiency and effectiveness due to redundancy costs and the political transaction costs associated with diverting resources away from a high‐performing partner to support their lower‐performing counterpart

Les facteurs de réussite ou d'échec des politiques publiques

Recent social science research -particularly evaluation research and cost-benefit analysis- has produced a substantial and very useful literature on the impact of public policy and on the relationship of program inputs to outputs and outcomes. However, the explicit focus of these analytic techniques on impacts and outcomes does not systematically yield useful information on why programs have been successes or failures. Policy-makers faced with an evaluation of program success of failure obviously need to know something about the why question if they are to make needed adjustments in the program or carry the lessons of one program to other areas. This article attempts to present a comprehensive framework for explaining and understanding program performance. It is meant to have two uses and to serve two clienteles. First, it presents for social scientists a set of research questions to guide research into the determinants of program performance. Second, it provides public policy-makers with a set of action questions which should be asked and answered appropriately in the actual formulating and carrying out of public policy, as a means of enhancing the chances of program success. The framework is divided into two parts, the formulating process and the carrying out process, although these two processes may overlap considerably, both in time and in terms of substantive concerns. Program success may be impeded by problems or inadequacies in one or mo.e of the components in either the formulating stage or the carrying out stage or in both.Les récentes recherches en sciences sociales - plus particulièrement les recherches en évaluation et les analyses avantage - coût - ont considérablement et très utilement enrichi la réflexion sur l'impact des politiques publiques ou sur la relation entre les ressources ou facteurs affectés à la réalisation d'un programme d'intervention et les effets ou résultats de ce dernier. L'accent tout particulier que ces techniques analytiques ont mis sur les impacts et conséquences des programmes n'a cependant pas permis d'expliciter de façon systématique les raisons pour lesquelles ces programmes ont été des réussites ou des échecs. Il est pourtant clair que les décideurs, lorsqu'ils sont en présence d'une évaluation qui conclut à l'échec ou à la réussite d'un programme, doivent avoir à leur disposition des indications sur les raisons de cet échec ou de cette réussite, notamment s'ils ont à formuler des décisions concernant les modifications qu'il conviendrait d'apporter à ce programme ou à transférer, d'un domaine à l'autre, les leçons issues d'une évaluation d'un programme. Cet article a pour objet de présenter un cadre général d'explication et de compréhension des performances d'un programme. Il est destiné à répondre à une double finalité et à satisfaire les besoins de deux types de clientèles. En premier lieu, il propose aux chercheurs en sciences sociales un ensemble de questions pertinentes susceptibles de guider leurs investigations concernant les facteurs déterminants des performances d'un programme. En second lieu, il propose aux décideurs publics une série de questions qui devraient être prises en compte lors de l'élaboration ou de la mise en œuvre d'une politique pour en accroître les chances de succès. Le cadre d'analyse proposé repose sur la distinction entre le processus d'élaboration et le processus de mise en œuvre des programmes d'intervention, étant entendu que, dans la pratique, ces deux processus présentent d'importants chevauchements tant dans le temps qu'au regard des types de préoccupation qui les caractérisent. Les obstacles au succès d'un programme peuvent tenir à divers problèmes et inadaptations caractéristiques d'une ou plusieurs composantes soit au stade de la formulation soit au stade de la mise en œuvre soit encore aux deux. performances d'un programme. En second lieu, il propose aux décideurs publics une série de questions qui devraient être prises en compte lors de l'élaboration ou de la mise en œuvre d'une politique pour en accroître les chances de succès. Le cadre d'analyse proposé repose sur la distinction entre le processus d'élaboration et le processus de mise en œuvre des programmes d'intervention, étant entendu que, dans la pratique, ces deux processus présentent d'importants chevauchements tant dans le temps qu'au regard des types de préoccupation qui les caractérisent. Les obstacles au succès d'un programme peuvent tenir à divers problèmes et inadaptations caractéristiques d'une ou plusieurs composantes soit au stade de la formulation soit au stade de la mise en œuvre soit encore aux deux.Wolman Harold. Les facteurs de réussite ou d'échec des politiques publiques. In: Politiques et management public, vol. 3, n° 3, 1985. pp. 51-95

Comparing local government systems across countries: conceptual and methodological challenges to building a field of comparative local government studies

Despite increasing research on comparative local government, the resulting literature remains disappointing in that it is difficult to generalize across the range of diffuse studies. The main problem is the lack of a common framework to conduct such research and into which results can be placed and built upon. Partly, this is a consequence of insufficient attention to the requirements of building a classification system that can serve as a framework. In the spirit of contributing to the conceptual and methodological development of the literature on comparative local government, I set forth criteria for a classification system, review and assess the literature with respect to these criteria, and suggest a possible approach for building an empirically based classification system for local government that can serve as a common framework.