Community Perceptions of New Residents in Penghu County, Taiwan

In order to get close to and support the ＂new residents＂ of Penghu County, Taiwan （known as female foreign spouses, who are from China's Mainland and Southeast Asia）, this study was conducted to set up a new service framework in the local community by the Penghu County Service Center for new residents. This study was implemented between May and July of 2011 to understand the local community perception of new residents living in five rural areas, and one city of Penghu, and to understand the community perceptions of these new residents. This includes： the new residents＇ feelings about the community, the new residents＇ feelings about interaction with the locals, multicultural acceptance of the community, and the new residents＇ feelings about participation in local activities. According to the parameters of this research, quantitative research methodology was adopted. After questionnaire studies and data analysis, the key findings are thus： New residents living areas have significant impact on the community perceptions of them, especially in two areas： the new resident＇s feeling relating to the community environment and their perception of interaction with the locals.

Community perceptions of massdrug administration for soil-transmitted helminthiasis and schistosomiasis in selected schools in the Philippines

Background:Soil-transmitted helminthiasis(STH)and schistosomiasis are parasitic infections prevalent in tropical and subtropical countries,such as the Philippines.The prevalence of these infections remain high in certain Philippine provinces,despite established mass drug administration(MDA)programs in endemic communities.This study aimed to understand community knowledge and perceptions of these infections to determine their implications on the current control and elimination strategies,including possible barriers to MDA compliance.Methods:The study was conducted in Northern Samar and Sorsogon,two provinces with the highest STH and schistosomiasis prevalence in the country.Focus group discussions with separate parent and children groups were utilized to gather knowledge and perceptions on STH and schistosomiasis causes,symptoms,treatment,and prevention;and on the deworming drugs and overall program implementation.Data collection in Northern Samar were done in August 2017,while the sessions in Sorsogon took place in May 2018.A cultural construction of disease framework will show how several factors affect MDA participation.Results:Results showed that participants held mostly correct biomedical notions of the infections and expressed willingness to participate in MDA program.However,reservations remained due to a reported lack of information dissemination,lack of confidence in the drugs used,and widespread fear of adverse side effects.Conclusion:Addressing these concerns-improving the conduct of the deworming program,incorporating suggestions from the community,and managing potential adverse events-may help raise MDA participation and encourage better personal preventive practices,reducing STH and schistosomiasis prevalence.

An empirical analysis on community residents' perception and major influencing factors of rural tourism development

With the rapid development of rural tourism in China,community residents,as important stakeholders in the development of rural tourism,their perceptions and attitudes directly affect the sustainable and healthy development of local rural tourism.Taking the community residents of Xiaogucheng Village in Hangzhou as the research object,using the methods of field interviews and questionnaires,a multiple regression model was established to conduct an empirical analysis on the perception and main factors affecting the development of rural tourism of community residents.The results show that the development of rural tourism in villages with better economic development is not as popular as expected;Where community residents have made ideological progress and are willing to participate in tourism development,the development effect of rural tourism is remarkable;In addition,community residents also hope that their personal abilities can be combined with rural tourism for common development;The destruction of community environment has a slight impact on the development of rural tourism,which shows that the attention is not enough.Finally,based on the analysis conclusion,it provides new ideas and inspiration for the sustainable development of rural tourism:improving the community residents’participation in rural tourism system,establishing the guidance mechanism of community residents’tourism vocational education,and consolidating the achievements of community ecological environment management.

A study on the tourism practitioners' perception of tourism impact:a case study of Hainan,China

This study examines the urban population of tourism practitioners' perceptions of economic, environmental, and social impacts on cultural, convention, and sport tourism may have in Haikou and Sanya, Hainan, China. The study uses a modif ied Urban Tourism Impact (UTI) to examine economic, environmental, and social perceived impacts. Analysis of the data includes testing three models of structural relationships between tourism impacts and support for development in each of the tourism market sub-divisions through a confirmatory factor analysis. The results of this study show that the positive economic impacts consistently exert influence on predicting support for tourism development in all three models. However, the social impacts play a greater explanatory role with all three market segment, the negative environmental impacts play a role in determining support for sport tourism only. Differences have been found with those with a higher education level in predicting support for cultural tourism, but not convention or sport tourism.

Partnership Strategies for a Changing Society： A Comparative Review of the Literature

As the saying goes, ＂Perception is reality＂. To many minorities, the police are prejudiced toward people of color and unconcerned about providing services to their communities. From the police＇s perception minority neighborhoods are ambivalent and non-supportive of police efforts to combat crime in their community. As police community-relations have appeared to decline over the past years and tensions have exacerbated between the two; which perception is more accurate？ Perhaps there is more than one answer with both sides needing to form a partnership and find ways to collaborate on strategies for a changing society. Negative perceptions threaten police and community relations and impact efforts to work together. Understanding both the cultural and ethnic differences of a community as well as the importance of discussing the implementation of crime control strategies are all elements, which can help change these negative perceptions. Police realize they alone cannot control crime and must truly enlist the aid of minority communities in this endeavor. As our society changes one thing is for certain, there are more questions than answers and we have to find a way to work together in order to be able to successfully meet the challenges that lie ahead. This literature review was conducted from two different perspectives-the perception of police and the community and the perceptions of community and the police.

Perceptive insight into incentive design and sustainability of participatory mangrove management: a case study from the Indian Sundarbans

Incentive design is among the decisive factors behind active community participation and long-term sustainability of participatory forest management. Especially in case of mangroves, where multiple interests apply, it requires a careful integration of several ecological, economic and institutional factors. The primary objective of this paper is to understand the basis of incentive design and make a comprehensive inquiry into the existing incentive mechanism of participatory mangrove management in Indian Sundarbans. The qualitative and in-depth assessment was derived against a conceptual framework that contains three main determinants: (1) resources availability, (2) control mechanism, and (3) perception of end-users. The study deploys the results of various participatory exercises such as structured interviews with forest officials, focus group discussions with 10 Joint Forest Management Committees and semi-structured interviews with 119 mangrove users. In general, we observed an over-cautious, hierarchical and safety-margin-based incentive design with distinct bifurcation of communities over the adequacy and effectiveness of derived benefits. Although, the incentives are diverse and align well with the overall conservation of mangroves, they are considered to be insufficient by nearly half of the mangrove users. The main issues that were observed to hinder effective community participation can be summarized as (1) serious restrictions on access to economically exploitable mangrove products, (2) passive involvement of vulnerable occupational groups, and (3) lack of trust and conflicting interests between the officials and the communities. Although the existing preventive management of mangroves can be justified considering the magnanimity of the Indian Sundarbans, it can severely impair community participation and emerge as a clear threat to future sustainability. To secure greater participation of the communities, we propose small scale, innovative developmental incentives to supplement traditional forest-resource-based incentives.

Analyzing the Effectiveness of Policy Implementation at the Local Level: A Case Study of Management of the 2009–2010 Drought in Yunnan Province, China

Several research efforts have focused primarily on policy implementation and improving innovative actions to address disaster risks. Discussions are ongoing on how to measure the effectiveness of policy implementation at the local level. But there is no definitive theory of effective policy implementation, and very few frameworks have been found acceptable as the basis of an analysis of the effectiveness of policy implementation, especially on droughts. Based on the 2009–2010 extreme drought in Yunnan, China, this article presents a modified framework to assess the effectiveness of policy implementation by defining policy, practice, and performance, as well as a feedback loop by which to share the lessons learned. Water conservancy projects in Luliang County and the agricultural diversity program in Longyang County in Yunnan Province were analyzed from a farmers' perspective. It was found that farmers are highly dependent on government policies and projects, and the effectiveness of policies is measured by short-term, immediate, and tangible benefits rather than long-term adaptation strategies. The results highlight the urgent need to reduce risks by developing better awareness about climate change and drought and its impacts, increased understanding of drought hazards, and implementation of appropriate measures for long-term adaptation.