Suchergebnisse

Higher education is broadly recognized as one of the most significant components of modern social and economic development. The quality of education at a university depends on factors such as how the university is managed, how effective the management decisions are, and what consequences they have for the advancement of society. While the consequences have numerous hardly equitable aspects, this article hypothesizes that it is possible to build a synthetic model for the assessment of university management, that takes into account a full range of existing quantitative and qualitative effects. The study aims to identify the relationship between the quality of management and the performance variables needed to build the model. The research methodology includes the application of econometric analysis for the formation, ranking, and determination of point values of a balanced scorecard (BSC). Finally, the findings of this research led to the creation of a workable model that allows both direct and reverse translation of a quantitative management assessment into a qualitative (verbal) one. Further, the verification using the available empirical data confirmed the model's validity. We would thus recommend this model for solving a whole range of university management issues, especially in areas with predominant ripple and indirect effects, i.e., in the interaction of higher education entities with regional and local communities.

Background: This study is based on the contact hypothesis that contact with mental illness is the most effective anti-stigma strategy. Aims: This study aims to analyze which form of contact can most effectively decrease the dangerousness and social distance associated with schizophrenia, depression and alcoholism. Method: In total, 573 Korean adults ( Mage = 43.71 years, standard deviation ( SD) = 13.41; 54.1% male, 45.9% female) were surveyed about randomly assigned vignettes of schizophrenia, depression and alcoholism. The participants were questioned on the dangerousness and social distance associated with the assigned vignette, as well as direct and indirect contact experience with the mental illness. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the main effect and interaction effect that the type of mental illness and contact experience have on the two dependent variables (dangerousness and social distance). Results: The findings show that the type of mental illness has a significant main effect on dangerousness and social distance, but contact type only has a significant main effect on social distance. Moreover, the two independent variables (mental illness subtype and contact experience) have an interaction effect on two dependent variables (dangerousness and social distance). Therefore, the anti-stigma effect of contact varies according to the type of mental illness. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that appropriate anti-stigma strategies are required for each type of mental illness. Considering that opportunities for direct contact with persons with mental illness are highly limited, it is necessary to actively utilize indirect contact.

Global climate change is considered to be one of the most serious concerns of humankind (United Nations, 1992; United Nations, 2002). Anthropogenic greenhouse gases and aerosols impact considerably the energy balance of the Earth system, possibly provoking adverse effects on social, ecological, and economical equilibria. This is one of the main reasons why the understanding of the Earth's climate system is of major importance. If better predictions of the response of the climate system to anthropogenic perturbations were available, political decisions against negative impacts could be taken, and social adaptations to changed climate conditions would be possible.

This paper proposes a difference-in-differences approach for disentangling a total treatment effect on some outcome into a direct impact as well as an indirect effect operating through a binary intermediate variable – or mediator – within strata defined upon how the mediator reacts to the treatment. We show under which assumptions the direct effects on the always and never takers, whose mediator is not affected by the treatment, as well as the direct and indirect effects on the compliers, whose mediator reacts to the treatment, are identified. We provide an empirical application based on the Vietnam draft lottery. The results suggest that a high draft risk due to the lottery leads to a relative increase in the support for the Republican Party and that this increase is mostly driven by those complying with the lottery outcome.