Large National Organization Research Articles

Differences between Internet samples and conventional samples of men who have sex with men: implications for research and HIV interventions

The Internet is becoming a new erotic oasis for obtaining sex online or in person. We reviewed the literature on cybersex and compared differences in data from samples of homosexually active men obtained on identical questionnaires from a conventional written questionnaire, distributed through the mailing and contact lists of a large national gay organization in Sweden, and through the same organization’s website and chat room. A total of 716 written questionnaires and 678 Internet questionnaires were obtained. The Internet sample was younger, more likely to live in small towns or cities, live with parents or a girlfriend, and have lower formal education. They are less likely to have previous sexual experience solely with other men (one in three of the Internet sample vs. 1 in 14 of the written sample defined themselves as bisexual) and more likely to visit erotic oases such as bathhouses, video clubs and erotic movie houses. They also visited Internet chat rooms more frequently (86% of the Internet sample vs. 50% of the written sample). One third of the Internet sample wanted the opportunity to talk with an expert about HIV compared with a quarter of the written sample. Sexual practices between the two samples were generally similar, although the Internet sample reported significantly less body contact, kissing, hugging, mutual masturbation, and more condom use for anal intercourse with steady partners. Over four times as many of the Internet samples reported sex with women in the past year as the written sample. These data indicate that Internet data collection is feasible and that this mode of data collection, despite the nonrandom and self-selected nature of both types of samples, is likely to be more significantly oriented toward the young, geographically more isolated, and more behaviorally and self-identified bisexual respondent than conventionally distributed written questionnaires.

Technology Foresight Activities in Korea and in Countries Closing the Technology Gap

This article discusses technology foresight in selected countries which were politically dependent (colonial) before World War II and considered as “under-developed” in the post-war period. Most of them show considerable economic dynamism in the 1990s, which is not always based on their own scientific and technological capability. For this group of countries, national exercises in technology foresight are likely to be an important tool in planning the strategic direction for science and technology development in order to catch up economically as well as socially. In Korea, which has recently become an OECD member, comparative advantage based on factors such as low wages and protected industries are no longer effective as the economy is now wide open to the world. Foresight is being used to look at comparative advantages based on Korea’s own knowledge-creating activities. In southeast Asian countries, foresight is still in an infant stage, but most of these have medium-term planning cycles and have undertaken longer-term vision studies. In South Africa, a national foresight project is running, as is an adapting foresight process to make the large national research organization fit. In Latin America, an agenda has been set up which indicates the desire of several countries to engage in foresight activities using different approaches.

Ventilation tube placement in a managed care population.

To date, little information is available regarding the actual incidence of ventilation tube placement in a known population of pediatric patients. We evaluated the incidence of ventilation tube placement in a known population of pediatric patients whose health coverage is provided through a large managed care organization. Epidemiological data provided by a large managed care organization on a population of 67,995 children from July 1, 1993, through June 30, 1994, were evaluated. A primary care physician referral to an otolaryngologist was required for assessment, and precertification for ventilation tube placement was obtained using explicit criteria developed by a large national health services utilization review organization. In children younger than 24 months, 30.11% underwent ventilation tube placement compared with an overall incidence of 4.49% for all children younger than 18 years. The details of this study are presented to understand better the implications of the epidemiology of otitis media and how it relates to a physician's participation in a managed care organization.

Partial Consolidation of the East-Central European Parties

The Hungarian party system is stable and only moderately fragmented. The Hungarian Socialist Party, the largest party after the 1994 elections in the Hungarian parliament, shows some features that illustrate partial consolidation of the east-central European parties, since these features can also be observed in some other (Polish and Czech) parties. The Hungarian Socialist Party has a rather large national organization and disciplined membership, with a relatively firm relationship to some social strata (intelligentsia, professionals and white-collar workers, on the one hand, and some working-class groups on the other). Its electoral victory and its role as the major partner in the incumbent coalition, however, have created some new problems for the party, but most probably even under this pressure of high expectations it can maintain its relative consolidation.

On the Cost of Chasing Research Dollars

Most researchers face the chore of seeking finding. Competitive grants are increasingly the norm for funding, even in large national research organizations. This paper presents the results of an analysis of the direct costs of grant‐seeking behavior in the context of Canada s national forest research organization. Unit costs of obtaining additional research dollars from a particular competition are derived. The average cost is found to be 22 cents per research dollar received. However, this result is heavily contingent on assumptions about the opportunity costs of researchers' time.

Applying case-based reasoning to forecasting retail sales

This article describes the development and testing of a forecasting system for retailers who plan periodic promotions. When the number of variables describing the promotion is large relative to the historical database of past promotions, traditional forecasting approaches cannot be applied. In such cases, retailers must rely on the expertise of their buyers to subjectively estimate promotional unit sales. This research develops a Case-Based Reasoning system that allows all buyers to forecast promotional sales as accurately as the organization's expert buyer and, by making the subjective process explicit, also provides an avenue to improve forecast performance over time. The system (1) selects the historical analogs that are most similar to the planned promotion, (2) adjusts the sales of each analog to account for any differences between the analog and the planned promotion, and (3) combines the forecasts derived from the multiple analogs to arrive at a single sales projection. The performance of the system was tested and found to compare favorably to the performance of an expert buyer in a large national retail organization.

Science clubs‐the extra dimension

Science clubs enable stimulating, personal science to reach out to individual students and can provide encouraging experiences beyond those available in the classroom. They also provide repeated contact to reinforce positive attitudes and knowledge. Science clubs can range from single classes to large national organizations. They can also support science through national experiments and at open days at science laboratories. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization's Double Helix Science Club has grown rapidly over 5 years to become a major concern in Australia with a membership of over 16,000 and a magazine distribution approaching 30,000. It has also provided an effective vehicle for many teachers looking to foster a greater interest in science. Non‐school bodies such as tertiary institutions, museums and public science centres also use the infrastructure to provide local science experiences and to create a link with the community.

Six-year slowing noted in previously growing rate of US blood collections, transfusions

A SLOWING of the previously growing rate of blood collections and transfusions has occurred since 1982, according to a new national survey. This reverses a 30-year trend. In the 10 years from 1971 to 1980 alone, transfusions of blood and blood components doubled. But Douglas M. Surgenor, MD, Center for Blood Research, Boston, Mass, says there is every indication that the present slowdown will continue. <h3>No Serious Shortages So Far</h3> "In all of the sectors we measured, growth has slowed precipitously," Surgenor said at a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (Bethesda, Md) committee meeting. Despite these changes, Surgenor pointed out that the nation's blood banking system is functioning well and serious shortages of blood nationally so far have been avoided. The survey used data obtained from the three large national organizations that collect blood. These are the American National Red Cross, the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB), and

Six-Year Slowing Noted in Previously Growing Rate of US Blood Collections, Transfusions

A SLOWING of the previously growing rate of blood collections and transfusions has occurred since 1982, according to a new national survey. This reverses a 30-year trend. In the 10 years from 1971 to 1980 alone, transfusions of blood and blood components doubled. But Douglas M. Surgenor, MD, Center for Blood Research, Boston, Mass, says there is every indication that the present slowdown will continue. <h3>No Serious Shortages So Far</h3> "In all of the sectors we measured, growth has slowed precipitously," Surgenor said at a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (Bethesda, Md) committee meeting. Despite these changes, Surgenor pointed out that the nation's blood banking system is functioning well and serious shortages of blood nationally so far have been avoided. The survey used data obtained from the three large national organizations that collect blood. These are the American National Red Cross, the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB), and

An Empirical Study of Salesforce Turnover

Employee turnover is a subject of great importance to practitioners and researchers alike. Though the research on employee turnover in general is extensive, a search of the literature uncovered few truly longitudinal studies of salesperson turnover. On the basis of the general turnover findings, the authors develop seven hypotheses relating salesperson demographic characteristics and job attitudes to turnover and test them by analyzing data gathered over a decade by a large national sales organization. The results raise questions about conclusions from previous studies and afford several new insights and implications for sales managers and researchers.

The Washington Report.

Of all issues facing the alcohol field as it enters the decade of the 1980s, none is more freighted with emotionalism, complexity and ambiguity than that of warning labels for alcoholic beverages. It combines a volatile mix of politics and economics with a heavy lacing of philosophical nd semantic onflict. When it began to emerge at the national evel in the latter part of the 1970s, the divisive nature of the issue was immediately apparent with deep, abiding schisms in the constituency. To the outsider or newcomer to the field, the controversy is baffling. Anyone not familiar with the field and its history would probably assume that its natural penchant would be in support of measures warn~ ing the public about the risks of drinking alcohol. That such is not the case raises questions in the minds of the uninitiate which can be answered only with an explanation which raises other questions that require even more explanations. To begin with, a distinction must be made between the alcoholism field and the field of alcohol problems, of which alcoholism is one. The distinction is c•-ucial to an understanding of some of the divisions that have emerged in the last few years. Its particular significance can be seen in the fact that the largest national organization with an exclusive concern for alcoholism,--by nomenclature as well as by policy and programmatic activity--is the only major organization which has refrained from taking a pro or con position on warning labels--the National Council on Alcoholism (NCA). NCA's position on the issue, adopted by its board of directors in January 1979 and reaffirmed at a stormy meeting in October 1979, is as follows:

The Use of the Delphi Procedures in Manpower Forecasting

This paper is a case study in the development, implementation and evaluation of the delphi technique, which systematically makes use of expert judgment in generating manpower forecasts. The study was conducted in a large national retail organization on professional manpower. The results of the delphi technique are compared with results generated by conventional regression based models and the actual experience of the organization, which serves as the criterion. The study also analyzes the Informational elements used by experts during the delphi procedures and develops a model based on these elements. The usefulness of the delphi in generating manpower forecasting models is also discussed.