Comprehensive Audit of The Criteria Used For Scoring Applicants For Consumer Credit

This paper presents a comprehensive audit of the criteria used for scoring applicants for consumer credit. The audit consists of two parts: the first part focuses on the criteria used in customized models, while the second part deals with those used in Fair-Isaac and Co (FICO) or generic models. This paper shows that most of the sets of criteria variables used in lending institutions and in literature are poorly selected and poorly defined

Change as the Convergence of Energies: Using the Lens of Postmodern Thinking to Examine Change in Higher Education

Post modern thought, in particular dynamic systems theory, offers explanations for the profound era in which we live. Defining myself as an educational leader with a post modern visionary perspective, I have deconstructed a change effort in higher education to demonstrate the developmental process that took place within me when I acted as an educational change agent. As part of this story, I have added the voice of an executive coach, who volunteered her services to the university and worked with me during the second semester of this change effort. This effort is analogous to a river that is constantly churning, moving. and changing from moment to moment as tributaries converge, debris is dredged up, and small pieces of silt and sand shape and re-shape themselves. Today, it is increasingly rare for a human to get a first look at data about the world. Even our telescopes are often operated remotely with computer sensors .... [Perception] James Bailey (1996, p. 137

Change as the Convergence of Energies: Using the Lens of Postmodern Thinking to Examine Change in Higher Education

Post modern thought, in particular dynamic systems theory, offers explanations for the profound era in which we live. Defining myself as an educational leader with a post modern visionary perspective, I have deconstructed a change effort in higher education to demonstrate the developmental process that took place within me when I acted as an educational change agent. As part of this story, I have added the voice of an executive coach, who volunteered her services to the university and worked with me during the second semester of this change effort. This effort is analogous to a river that is constantly churning, moving. and changing from moment to moment as tributaries converge, debris is dredged up, and small pieces of silt and sand shape and re-shape themselves. Today, it is increasingly rare for a human to get a first look at data about the world. Even our telescopes are often operated remotely with computer sensors .... [Perception] James Bailey (1996, p. 137

Some thoughts about the value of an OECD international assessment framework for early childhood services in Aotearoa New Zealand

We were alerted to this warning from James Gee because it is from a chapter that reflects on assessment from a sociocultural-situated perspective. The New Zealand early childhood education curriculum, Te Whāriki, also takes this perspective and, in this short article, we argue that the use of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) standardized tests to evaluate our early childhood education sector, while it may be perfectly ‘scientific’, could be disastrous for Te Whāriki

Using Systematic Reviews to Transform Qualitative Research

Systematic reviews are an expected, respected, and rigorous method of appraising evidence. A tested and rigorous method for conducting systematic reviews of qualitative research in nursing science is described. This method of discovering evidence will transform the significance and utility of qualitative research findings and identify the critical data to include when disseminating the findings of qualitative studies. Accumulating evidence in qualitative research is transformative progress

Perceived leadership needs, satisfactions and contributions of volunteer leaders in the Kansas "Quality of living" extension program

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1978 C377Master of Scienc

Parents Perception of Safety in Pennsylvania and Children\u27s Activity and Weight

Physical activity is associated with many health benefits to include weight management, lower risk for chronic diseases, and improved mental health and self esteem. The built environment has been linked to lower physical activity levels and overweight and obesity in children living in low income communities but the exact causes need further investigation. The purpose of this quantitative, cross sectional study was to examine the association between parents\u27 perception of safety and body mass index (BMI) percentile and children\u27s physical activity/ inactivity levels and children\u27s BMI as measured by the National Survey of Children\u27s Health (2011/12 NSCH). The sample consisted of low income African American and Hispanic parents and their children between the ages of 6 to 17 (n=109) who live in Pennsylvania. The study used social ecological theory as the theoretical framework. Data analysis included descriptive analysis and Chi square analysis of variables related to safety, physical activity and children\u27s BMI percentile. The results indicated a strong negative correlation of Hispanic parent\u27s perception of safety and their children\u27s BMI percentile, and a moderately negative correlation of African American parents\u27 perception of safety and their children. In addition, a strong negative correlation of Hispanic parent\u27s perception of vandalism and their children\u27s BMI percentile was found. The study contributes to social change by increasing awareness of public health policy makers and officials that parental concerns for safety and vandalism should be considered in the creation of policies geared at reducing unsafe aspects of the community, the design of educational programs for parents and children, and alterations within communities to improve health

Conceptualizing socio-hydrological drought processes: The case of the Maya collapse

With population growth, increasing water demands and climate change the need to understand the current and future pathways to water security is becoming more pressing. To contribute to addressing this challenge, we examine the link between water stress and society through socio-hydrological modeling. We conceptualize the interactions between an agricultural society with its environment in a stylized way. We apply the model to the case of the ancient Maya, a population that experienced a peak during the Classic Period (AD 600-830) and then declined during the ninth century. The hypothesis that modest drought periods played a major role in the society's collapse is explored. Simulating plausible feedbacks between water and society we show that a modest reduction in rainfall may lead to an 80% population collapse. Population density and crop sensitivity to droughts, however, may play an equally important role. The simulations indicate that construction of reservoirs results in less frequent drought impacts, but if the reservoirs run dry, drought impact may be more severe and the population drop may be larger

Establishing and maintaining international collaborative research teams: an autobiographical insight

Despite the growing impetus for international collaborative research teams (ICRT), there are relatively few resources available to guide and support researchers through the processes of establishing and maintaining ICRTs. In particular, no articles were found that provided researchers’ firsthand accounts of being a member of such a team. Having access to such personal accounts can help both experienced and novice researchers learn more directly about what to expect, as well as the benefits, challenges, pitfalls, and success strategies for establishing and maintaining ICRTs. The authors used phenomenological autobiographical reflective journaling to capture their experiences as members of ICRTs. In this article we provide an overview of key themes that emerged from the analysis of our reflections as members of ICRTs. These themes include: benefits, challenges, and strategies for success. Our aim is to share our first-hand experiences of what it is like to establish and participate in ICRT. It is not our intention to provide readers with prescriptive guidelines on how to set up and maintain ICRTs. Every ICRT is unique and some of these ideas may or may not apply in every case. Instead, we are describing what worked for us, hoping that others may benefit from our experience. Consequently, we suggest that the focus of ICRT should be on the benefits thereof which promote and encourage interaction between disciplines, transfer of knowledge and techniques and personal and professional development.Web of Scienc

Learning from the Ancient Maya: Exploring the Impact of Drought on Population Dynamics

Understanding the relationship between drought and population dynamics is increasingly important, particularly in areas where high population growth corresponds with increasing drought risk due to climate change. We examine the relationship between drought events and population dynamics using a stylized hydrology-demography model that has been calibrated to simulate plausible feedbacks for the population decline of the Ancient Maya of Central America. We employ a deterministic and a stochastic approach. We find that the impact of drought increases abruptly once a critical threshold of population density is exceeded. The critical threshold depends on the intensity and duration of the drought as well as on the level of technology adopted by society, the extent of markets and societal behavior. The simulations show that, for a society to be as food secure post-climate change as they are pre-climate change, strategies would have to be adopted to not only increase the region's capacity to provide sufficient resources for its growing population, but also to buffer the impact of a drier climate on productivity. This study provides suggestions on how technological, societal and economic development can modify the system to mitigate the impacts of climate change on the human population