Durational Metamorphosis

This chapter examines the phenomenological and aesthetic effects of “durational metamorphoses,” slow movements of incremental change that result in a sense of visual transformation, such as a sunrise or the shape-shifting of clouds. These movements have become hallmarks of “slow cinema” in the last twenty years, but also can be traced back to the non-narrative experiments of structural film such as Fogline (Gottheim, 1970) or the landscape films of James Benning (e.g., Ten Skies, 2004). By analyzing sequences featuring durational metamorphoses across narrative films and video installations such as Silent Light (Reygadas, 2007), The Locked Garden (Viola, 2000), and Cemetery of Splendor (Apichatpong, 2015), this chapter demonstrates how a phenomenology of durational metamorphoses can help rethink the discourse of cinematic slowness, which often treats slowness and stasis as occasions to retreat away from the perception of the screen and toward contemplation. Against this common understanding of slowness, this chapter argues that durational metamorphoses compel perceptual encounters with slowness as a form of movement, one that presents Bergsonian duration in visual form.

Modelling decay in effectiveness for evaluation of behaviour change interventions: a tutorial for public health economists

Background and purpose Recent methodological reviews of evaluations of behaviour change interventions in public health have highlighted that the decay in effectiveness over time has been mostly overlooked, potentially leading to suboptimal decision-making. While, in principle, discrete-time Markov chains—the most commonly used modelling approach—can be adapted to account for decay in effectiveness, this framework inherently lends itself to strong model simplifications. The application of formal and more appropriate modelling approaches has been supported, but limited progress has been made to date. The purpose of this paper is to encourage this shift by offering a practical guide on how to model decay in effectiveness using a continuous-time Markov chain (CTMC)-based approach. Methods A CTMC approach is demonstrated, with a contextualized tutorial being presented to facilitate learning and uptake. A worked example based on the stylized case study in physical activity promotion is illustrated with accompanying R code. Discussion The proposed framework presents a relatively small incremental change from the current modelling practice. CTMC represents a technical solution which, in absence of relevant data, allows for formally testing the sensitivity of results to assumptions regarding the long-term sustainability of intervention effects and improving model transparency. Conclusions The use of CTMC should be considered in evaluations where decay in effectiveness is likely to be a key factor to consider. This would enable more robust model-based evaluations of population-level programmes to promote behaviour change and reduce the uncertainty surrounding the decision to invest in these public health interventions.

A HOUSE THAT GROWS ON THE INSIDE

<p>With house prices rising so rapidly, many New Zealand families find the stretch to homeownership beyond them. It is now customary to hear of people unable to purchase a property for their needs, in relation to the size of the house, its location or both and the idea of homeownership is fast becoming a pipeline dream for most people. With large upfront costs and large mortgage repayments, the cost of purchasing or building a house is unaffordable for a growing number of the population (Aravena & Lacobelli, 2012; Michael Bassett, 2013). Affordability is a broad notion but in essence, this research portfolio addresses it as the concern for accessibility of New Zealanders to put a roof over their heads. The crux of this issue is the relatively high cost to purchase a place to call home, making housing a commodity to enrich a few. An alternative solution to building and financing a home is needed. This research portfolio questions how flexible design and incremental construction approaches can be applied to a range of sites typical to the New Zealand context, providing an alternative housing solution that addresses housing affordability. This alternative housing solution demonstrates flexible design and incremental construction tactics derived from the comparative and critical analysis of literature and precedence. These tactics are demonstrated through the design of four typologies that accommodate the users changing needs and financial circumstances. Housing affordability has been addressed by the consideration of these flexible design and incremental construction tactics to allow for incremental investment. As the users, financial circumstances increase or change, the design and construction of their dwelling allows them to make changes easily. This reduces the need for major construction work in order to change the layout and use and it easily allows for the opportunity to expand when the money becomes available. It also averts the necessity to move which in the current property market is costly in terms of finances and time. To address the aims of this research portfolio, this alternative housing solution inverts the typical process of building and financing a home. It responds effortlessly to the occupant’s requirements, however varied. Incorporating flexible design and incremental construction tactics allows for incremental change and incremental investment over the lifetime of the building. At times when a lack of supply has resulted in rampant price increases, we need to question why, would one build a house that takes a great amount of time, money and effort to construct but so quickly becomes redundant? A dwelling, therefore, shouldn’t be a product. A dwelling should be an ongoing process.</p>

A HOUSE THAT GROWS ON THE INSIDE

<p>With house prices rising so rapidly, many New Zealand families find the stretch to homeownership beyond them. It is now customary to hear of people unable to purchase a property for their needs, in relation to the size of the house, its location or both and the idea of homeownership is fast becoming a pipeline dream for most people. With large upfront costs and large mortgage repayments, the cost of purchasing or building a house is unaffordable for a growing number of the population (Aravena & Lacobelli, 2012; Michael Bassett, 2013). Affordability is a broad notion but in essence, this research portfolio addresses it as the concern for accessibility of New Zealanders to put a roof over their heads. The crux of this issue is the relatively high cost to purchase a place to call home, making housing a commodity to enrich a few. An alternative solution to building and financing a home is needed. This research portfolio questions how flexible design and incremental construction approaches can be applied to a range of sites typical to the New Zealand context, providing an alternative housing solution that addresses housing affordability. This alternative housing solution demonstrates flexible design and incremental construction tactics derived from the comparative and critical analysis of literature and precedence. These tactics are demonstrated through the design of four typologies that accommodate the users changing needs and financial circumstances. Housing affordability has been addressed by the consideration of these flexible design and incremental construction tactics to allow for incremental investment. As the users, financial circumstances increase or change, the design and construction of their dwelling allows them to make changes easily. This reduces the need for major construction work in order to change the layout and use and it easily allows for the opportunity to expand when the money becomes available. It also averts the necessity to move which in the current property market is costly in terms of finances and time. To address the aims of this research portfolio, this alternative housing solution inverts the typical process of building and financing a home. It responds effortlessly to the occupant’s requirements, however varied. Incorporating flexible design and incremental construction tactics allows for incremental change and incremental investment over the lifetime of the building. At times when a lack of supply has resulted in rampant price increases, we need to question why, would one build a house that takes a great amount of time, money and effort to construct but so quickly becomes redundant? A dwelling, therefore, shouldn’t be a product. A dwelling should be an ongoing process.</p>

Comparative Analysis of Dementia Care Programs and Delivery Models

Dementia has significant social and economic impacts for those living with dementia and their caregivers. Despite an increase in prevalence of complex chronic conditions and dementia, long-term care services are continuously pushed out of institutional settings and into the home and community. The majority of people living with dementia in Canada and the United States (U.S.) live at home with support provided by family, friends, or other unpaid caregivers. Ten dementia care programs and service delivery models across five different North American jurisdictions in Canada and the U.S. are compared using a deductive analytical approach using a comparative policy framework developed by Richard Rose. The policy efforts included in this research attempt to improve health system flow and access for vulnerable populations. One common theme among all jurisdictions are long-standing institutional barriers that can make change difficult. These barriers can prevent the ability for systems to be flexible and adapt to meet the changing needs of populations. Incrementalism is often considered an appropriate approach to health system reform. Yet, incremental change efforts lead to policy layers and these layers can lead to tension between different policy mixes and unintended consequences. These programs were introduced in a manner that did not fully consider how to patch current structures and risk creating further system redundancies. One approach to reduce this risk is to combine evaluative efforts that assess ‘goodness of fit’. The degree to which these programs have embedded these efforts successfully is low, with the possible exception of DSRIP from NY.

Assessing the Potential for Agonistic Engagement Among Accountants: A quasi-experimental repeated Q study of social and environmental reporting

<p>A number of writers have recently criticised a perceived narrowness in accountants’ understanding of their profession. In particular, they claim that the predominant focus on shareholders and capital markets may be at the expense of wider public interests that accounting should serve. As accountants engage increasingly with a variety of complex and politically contentious issues, there is cause for concern regarding their capacity to represent and engage with non-financial interests. Some of these concerns are reflected in ongoing debates regarding social and environmental reporting (SER). Accountants are important players in the SER field. They have high-profile roles as self-proclaimed ‘thought leaders’ in areas such as sustainability and integrated reporting, and are increasingly involved in developing SER concepts and practices, discussion papers and best practice guidance. These technologies increasingly rely on, and are legitimised by, their incorporation of a plurality of perspectives. However, both academics and civil society groups have raised concerns that professional accounting bodies are too closely aligned with business interests, and prioritise ‘business case’ (BC) understandings of concepts such as SER, which favour shareholder-oriented perspectives. As in other areas of policy controversy, the capacity to engage with a plurality of perspectives is important because of its impact on, inter alia, the issues that are recognised, how problems are conceived and responded to, and which or whose perspectives are prioritised. While prior research has explored management and stakeholder perspectives, there has been very little research to date on accountants’ perspectives on SER. Relatedly, relatively little is known about accountants’ abilities to incorporate a multiplicity of views when attempting to engage with complex issues. This study seeks to fill this gap. My research was designed as a quasi-experimental investigation that uses Constructive Conflict Methodology (CCM) and Q methodology (QM) to examine divergent perspectives of SER among three groups of accountants: academics, practitioners, and students. In particular, my research explores the use of CCM as a framework, which when implemented via QM, can help operationalise the theoretical developments of an agonistic approach to critical dialogic accounting (CDA). Drawing on applications of CCM and QM in political theory and policy analysis, my research design is divided into two distinct phases. Phase One focuses on identifying and understanding the range of perspectives among participants regarding SER. Informed by this understanding, Phase Two develops a workshop, the SER Dialogue, to bring together participants who are representative of the diverse perspectives identified. In Phase One, 34 participants’ perspectives of SER were explored through a mix of semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and QM. The participants evidenced a range of diverse understandings of SER, with three general approaches identified from participants’ Q data: the Critical (F1(CR)), Business Case (F2(BC)) and Incremental Change (F3(INC)) approaches. These general categorisations helped identify differences, inconsistencies and contradictions in the participants’ ideological orientations and illustrated the contested discursive landscape within which SER is conceptualised. Participants’ alignment with each general category also identified possible constraints in their capacity to recognise and understand divergent perspectives. Informed by these insights, Phase Two focused on developing a discursive space for agonistic pluralist engagement (the SER Dialogue) with a group of participants, representing the three diverse perspectives. Ultimately, these participants had both a larger number and magnitude of shifts in their perspective of SER compared to a control group. There was also a general increase in alignment with F1(CR), with many participants demonstrating the development of critically pluralist and reflexive understandings. These findings illustrate the potential for agonistic pluralist engagement to develop accountants’ capacity for pluralist engagement with perspectives surrounding complex and politically contentious issues, while also enabling resistance to the hegemony of BC perspectives within the field of accounting.</p>

Assessing the Potential for Agonistic Engagement Among Accountants: A quasi-experimental repeated Q study of social and environmental reporting

<p>A number of writers have recently criticised a perceived narrowness in accountants’ understanding of their profession. In particular, they claim that the predominant focus on shareholders and capital markets may be at the expense of wider public interests that accounting should serve. As accountants engage increasingly with a variety of complex and politically contentious issues, there is cause for concern regarding their capacity to represent and engage with non-financial interests. Some of these concerns are reflected in ongoing debates regarding social and environmental reporting (SER). Accountants are important players in the SER field. They have high-profile roles as self-proclaimed ‘thought leaders’ in areas such as sustainability and integrated reporting, and are increasingly involved in developing SER concepts and practices, discussion papers and best practice guidance. These technologies increasingly rely on, and are legitimised by, their incorporation of a plurality of perspectives. However, both academics and civil society groups have raised concerns that professional accounting bodies are too closely aligned with business interests, and prioritise ‘business case’ (BC) understandings of concepts such as SER, which favour shareholder-oriented perspectives. As in other areas of policy controversy, the capacity to engage with a plurality of perspectives is important because of its impact on, inter alia, the issues that are recognised, how problems are conceived and responded to, and which or whose perspectives are prioritised. While prior research has explored management and stakeholder perspectives, there has been very little research to date on accountants’ perspectives on SER. Relatedly, relatively little is known about accountants’ abilities to incorporate a multiplicity of views when attempting to engage with complex issues. This study seeks to fill this gap. My research was designed as a quasi-experimental investigation that uses Constructive Conflict Methodology (CCM) and Q methodology (QM) to examine divergent perspectives of SER among three groups of accountants: academics, practitioners, and students. In particular, my research explores the use of CCM as a framework, which when implemented via QM, can help operationalise the theoretical developments of an agonistic approach to critical dialogic accounting (CDA). Drawing on applications of CCM and QM in political theory and policy analysis, my research design is divided into two distinct phases. Phase One focuses on identifying and understanding the range of perspectives among participants regarding SER. Informed by this understanding, Phase Two develops a workshop, the SER Dialogue, to bring together participants who are representative of the diverse perspectives identified. In Phase One, 34 participants’ perspectives of SER were explored through a mix of semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and QM. The participants evidenced a range of diverse understandings of SER, with three general approaches identified from participants’ Q data: the Critical (F1(CR)), Business Case (F2(BC)) and Incremental Change (F3(INC)) approaches. These general categorisations helped identify differences, inconsistencies and contradictions in the participants’ ideological orientations and illustrated the contested discursive landscape within which SER is conceptualised. Participants’ alignment with each general category also identified possible constraints in their capacity to recognise and understand divergent perspectives. Informed by these insights, Phase Two focused on developing a discursive space for agonistic pluralist engagement (the SER Dialogue) with a group of participants, representing the three diverse perspectives. Ultimately, these participants had both a larger number and magnitude of shifts in their perspective of SER compared to a control group. There was also a general increase in alignment with F1(CR), with many participants demonstrating the development of critically pluralist and reflexive understandings. These findings illustrate the potential for agonistic pluralist engagement to develop accountants’ capacity for pluralist engagement with perspectives surrounding complex and politically contentious issues, while also enabling resistance to the hegemony of BC perspectives within the field of accounting.</p>

Pay-for-performance in primary health care: A comparative study of health policymaking in England and New Zealand

<p>England and New Zealand introduced pay-for-performance schemes in their primary health care systems, with incentives for general practitioners to achieve improved population-based health outcomes, between 2001 and 2007. These schemes were part of health reforms to change the relationship between the state and the medical profession, giving the state increased influence over the quality and allocation of publicly funded health care. Two schemes of differing size, scope and impact were implemented. This research takes a comparative approach to exploring each policymaking process, utilising quasi-natural experimental conditions in these two Westminster governing systems to test the relevance of Kingdon’s multi-theoretic Multiple Streams Framework and other theoretical approaches to explain policy variation and change. The research documented and analysed the agenda-setting, alternative selection and implementation phases in the two policymaking processes and identified the key drivers of policymaking in each case study. A qualitative methodology, based upon documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews with 26 decision-makers, leaders and participants, was used to develop the two case studies, providing rich descriptive details and rare insights into closed policymaking approaches as seen by the participants. From this case study evidence, themes were drawn out and reviewed for consistency with Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Framework as it has been interpreted and adapted by Zahariadis. The case study evidence and themes were considered in a framework of comparative analysis where patterns of similarity and difference were established. The utility of Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Framework in interpreting the case study evidence was assessed. This analysis demonstrated that Kingdon’s Framework, as interpreted by Zahariadis, had high descriptive power for both case studies but failed to predict the patterns of non-incremental change observed or the importance of institutional factors such as ownership and governance arrangements for public services, interest group structure and historical antecedents seen in the two policymaking processes. The research finds that the use of bargaining in England and not in New Zealand is the reason for major differences in speed, scope and outcomes of the two pay-for-performance schemes. Institutional structures in the general practice sub-system are therefore the primary driver of policy change and variation. These acted as enablers of non-incremental change in the English case study, providing incentives for actors individually and collectively to design and rapidly to implement a large-scale pay-for-performance scheme. The institutional features of the general practice sub-system in New Zealand acted as a constraint to the development of a large-scale scheme although non-incremental change was achieved. Phased approaches to implementation in New Zealand were necessary and slowed the delivery of outcomes from the scheme. With respect to other drivers of policy change and variation, the role of individual actors as policy and institutional entrepreneurs was important in facilitating policy design in each country, with different types of entrepreneurs with different skills being observed at different stages of the process. These entrepreneurs were appointed and working within the bureaucracy to the direction of decision-makers in both countries. England and New Zealand shared ideas about the benefits of New Public Management approaches to public policymaking, including support for pay-for-performance approaches, and there was a shared positive socio-economic climate for increased investment in health services. The research provides evidence that Westminster governing systems are capable of purposeful and orderly non-incremental health policy change and that Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Framework, which theorises policy formation in conditions of ambiguity, needs to be enhanced to improve its relevance for such jurisdictions. Recommendations for its enhancement are made.</p>

Pay-for-performance in primary health care: A comparative study of health policymaking in England and New Zealand

<p>England and New Zealand introduced pay-for-performance schemes in their primary health care systems, with incentives for general practitioners to achieve improved population-based health outcomes, between 2001 and 2007. These schemes were part of health reforms to change the relationship between the state and the medical profession, giving the state increased influence over the quality and allocation of publicly funded health care. Two schemes of differing size, scope and impact were implemented. This research takes a comparative approach to exploring each policymaking process, utilising quasi-natural experimental conditions in these two Westminster governing systems to test the relevance of Kingdon’s multi-theoretic Multiple Streams Framework and other theoretical approaches to explain policy variation and change. The research documented and analysed the agenda-setting, alternative selection and implementation phases in the two policymaking processes and identified the key drivers of policymaking in each case study. A qualitative methodology, based upon documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews with 26 decision-makers, leaders and participants, was used to develop the two case studies, providing rich descriptive details and rare insights into closed policymaking approaches as seen by the participants. From this case study evidence, themes were drawn out and reviewed for consistency with Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Framework as it has been interpreted and adapted by Zahariadis. The case study evidence and themes were considered in a framework of comparative analysis where patterns of similarity and difference were established. The utility of Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Framework in interpreting the case study evidence was assessed. This analysis demonstrated that Kingdon’s Framework, as interpreted by Zahariadis, had high descriptive power for both case studies but failed to predict the patterns of non-incremental change observed or the importance of institutional factors such as ownership and governance arrangements for public services, interest group structure and historical antecedents seen in the two policymaking processes. The research finds that the use of bargaining in England and not in New Zealand is the reason for major differences in speed, scope and outcomes of the two pay-for-performance schemes. Institutional structures in the general practice sub-system are therefore the primary driver of policy change and variation. These acted as enablers of non-incremental change in the English case study, providing incentives for actors individually and collectively to design and rapidly to implement a large-scale pay-for-performance scheme. The institutional features of the general practice sub-system in New Zealand acted as a constraint to the development of a large-scale scheme although non-incremental change was achieved. Phased approaches to implementation in New Zealand were necessary and slowed the delivery of outcomes from the scheme. With respect to other drivers of policy change and variation, the role of individual actors as policy and institutional entrepreneurs was important in facilitating policy design in each country, with different types of entrepreneurs with different skills being observed at different stages of the process. These entrepreneurs were appointed and working within the bureaucracy to the direction of decision-makers in both countries. England and New Zealand shared ideas about the benefits of New Public Management approaches to public policymaking, including support for pay-for-performance approaches, and there was a shared positive socio-economic climate for increased investment in health services. The research provides evidence that Westminster governing systems are capable of purposeful and orderly non-incremental health policy change and that Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Framework, which theorises policy formation in conditions of ambiguity, needs to be enhanced to improve its relevance for such jurisdictions. Recommendations for its enhancement are made.</p>

Sensitivity analysis of CROPGRO- cotton model to intra-seasonal climatic variability in middle Gujarat

The CROPGRO-Cotton model was first calibrated and validated with the six years (2011-12 to 2016-17) of experimental data collected at Regional Research Station, A.A.U., Anand for two cultivars of cotton (DCH 32 and G. Cot. Hy. 102) to study the effect of intra-seasonal climatic variability on seed cotton yield. The model sensitivity analysis was carried out by incremental change in climatic parameters (maximum and minimum temperature from -30 to +30C) and rainfall (-25% to +25%). Results revealed that elevated temperature had negative effect on seed cotton yield and reduced temperature had positive effect on seed cotton yield. The varieties DCH 32 was slightly less affected by the temperature variation than G. Cot. Hy. 102. Temperature variation during October to December was found to have maximum effect on cotton crop. The effect of minimum temperature on seed cotton yield was more than that observed with maximum temperature.Cotton crop was affected more by variation in rainfall during September in comparison to that of July and August.