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This article reviews the contents of the previous year's editions of the Journal of Children's Services (Volume 2, 2007), as requested by the Journal's editorial board. It draws out some of the main messages for how high‐quality scientific research can help build good childhoods in western developed countries, focusing on: the need for epidemiology to understand how to match services to needs; how research can build evidence of the impact of prevention and intervention services on child well‐being; what the evidence says about how to implement proven programmes successfully; the economic case for proven programmes; the urgency of improving children's material living standards; how to help the most vulnerable children in society; and, lastly, the task of measuring child well‐being.

The need for random assignment in sexual offending programme evaluation is clear. Decades of high dependence on weak-inference methodology, that of observational studies, has inhibited professional agreement regarding the effects of programmes. Observational studies have a place in evaluation research when more rigorous scientific designs precede them, as occurs in neighbouring fields of drug development and health. If, however, observational studies remain the only method used to evaluate sexual offending programmes, the field will continue to endure uncertainty with confident causal inferences regarding their effects remaining elusive. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The paper takes the form of a literature review and discussion.

The case for random assignment is made alongside a rebuttal of arguments against their use.

This is an original look at the need for random assignment in sexual offending programme evaluation taking into account existing studies and discussion topics.

Confusion over definitions, and particularly between everyday and scientific meanings, are a problem for all those working in the health prevention field. So are methodological shortcomings common in research in this area. Drawing on work done in the EC‐funded COST‐A6 project: evaluation of primary prevention in the field of illicit drugs, this paper sorts out some muddles and proposes some solutions.

‘Stans’ is an ancient Persian word meaning land, country or nation. This chapter begins with a review of the historical basis of zakat management in Islamic practice and provides a brief historical account and status of zakat practices in select countries in Central Asia. The section thereafter focuses on benchmark international zakat management models before providing recommendations for the development of an effective zakat management model within Central Asia. The economic shocks resulting from the pandemic have forced many in the region into situational poverty. If left unchecked, this may easily regress into chronic poverty, undoing the significant growth that these countries have experienced over the last decade. Existing social programmes have limited the impact of economic loss. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, they have an opportunity to revive this history and once again empower their nations with Islamic social finance instruments. Effective zakat management models in Indonesia and Kuwait, for example, provide different dimensions to social impact. The Indonesian model of BAZNAS provides the most comprehensive methodology for governance, risk management and replication. BAZNAS′ strategy for digitalization and collaboration suggests a strong model for development within Central Asia. Through an effective zakat model, it is expected that Central Asian nations will be better protected against economic disruptions and provide a safety net for vulnerable communities in the region. These conclusions and recommendations in this chapter are limited to the information available in the literature. Further study is required through primary research to understand better what the challenges are in zakat modelling. Locals may also be surveyed to determine their levels of zakat knowledge and their concerns for institutional zakat collection and disbursement.

Evidence-based practices have been shown to meaningfully improve learner outcomes by bodies of high-quality research studies and should therefore be prioritized for use in schools, especially with struggling learners such as students with learning disabilities. Although many resources are available on the internet with information about evidence-based practices, the magnitude and technical nature of the websites are often overwhelming to practitioners and are therefore not frequently used as part of the instructional decision-making process. In this chapter, we aim to provide a “one stop shopping experience” for readers interested in evidence-based practices for students with learning disabilities by reviewing five relevant website. Specifically, for each website we review (a) the procedures used to classify the evidence-based status of practices, (b) the classification scheme used to indicate the level of research support for practices, and (c) the practices reviewed for students with learning disabilities and their evidence-based classification. We conclude with a discussion of issues related to interpreting and applying information on evidence-based practices from these websites.

All Stars Core is a school‐based drug abuse prevention program for 11 to 14 year olds from the United States. It focuses on five qualities that protect children from drug use: viewing drug use as uncommon and unacceptable to the peer group (norms); viewing drug use as interfering with future goals; commitment to avoid drug use; positive attention from parents; and feeling accepted at school. All Star Plus was recently developed with the goal of expanding the Core program to include the development of three competencies: goal setting, decision making, and skills to resist peer pressure resistance. Students either received All Stars Core, All Stars Plus, or were assigned to the non‐treated control group. Both programs outperformed the control group; however, All Stars Plus was more effective in preventing drug use than All Stars Core. All Stars Plus was found to reduce alcohol use, drunkenness, cigarette smoking, marijuana use, and inhalant use. The Plus program appeared to have achieved these outcomes by improving norms, increasing persistence in pursuing goals, and by increasing attention from parents.

Free and open source software (FOSS) brings many benefits to digital preservation; however it is not “free”. If the context in which free and open source software tools are created and employed is examined, it becomes clear that: the sustainability of any software (FOSS, custom or commercial) to ensure the preservation of the digital heritage will depend on careful assessment of, and provision for, the costs (implicit and explicit) entailed in the production and continued employment of these tools. The purpose of this paper is to focus on FOSS and archiving of the digital heritage.

Portico, a not‐for‐profit digital preservation service, explores the costs of FOSS based on its experiences as a working archive with an extremely long time horizon.

There are considerable benefits to FOSS, including its openness and the broad‐based testing of it in real‐world situations. FOSS tools can provide considerable cost savings over proprietary tools. However, FOSS is neither free to use, nor to create, nor to maintain. Digital preservation organizations must inventory not only the FOSS tools in the preservation arsenal, but the network of sustaining tools (FOSS and otherwise), documentation, and “tribal knowledge” that make these tools effectively usable. The risks to sustainability of this network of resources must be assessed, and determine what it will cost to keep them viable. Strategies will have to be considered and implemented for providing the means to sustain these resources. An engaged community of use is the best guarantor of the vitality of any FOSS tool. As that community wanes, it becomes even more essential to capture the significant properties and domain knowledge about that tool. Creators of new software in the digital preservation space have a particular obligation to provide and maintain information about the significant properties of that software.

The paper shows how Portico brings its practical experiences integrating multiple FOSS tools to bear on an analysis of the costs to creating and maintaining these tools over the long‐term.

Considers the material impact of computers and cybernetics in the 1980s. Summarizes some of the then current principal applications. Looks at the contribution made by cybernetics to computer development in the period 1940‐1981. Emphasises the widely held belief of the day that “anyone must have some understanding of computers and their operation to understand much about cybernetics”. The re‐published work served as a guide and introduction to using the digital computers of the 1980s in systems and cybernetics research and developments and was one in a series of 12 texts prepared by some well‐known cyberneticians and systemists on important topics in these inter‐ and trans‐disciplinary sciences.

This paper aims to present a categorization scheme and use it to classify Canadian Government (federal and provincial) competitive intelligence (CI) programs and to also look at the impact of these programs on sectoral and regional economic development.

Based on the author’s 25 years of experience designing, running, and studying Canadian Government CI programs, a classification scheme to classify these programs has been developed and used. Also, by using program review information, this paper looks at evidence for program impact on regional and sectoral economic development.

This paper identifies a broad range of federal and provincially sponsored CI programs aimed at helping both government officers and those outside the department make better decisions. The review identified several roles that the government can play in using CI: creator of CI (both for their own purposes and also for helping Canadian companies), CI environment skills builder (helping Canadian companies develop skills in developing their own CI) and CI partner (working jointly with Canadian companies in developing CI). While there have not been many formal program reviews of the CI programs sponsored by Canadian Government departments and agencies, anecdotal evidence (from training program participant evaluations) and a comprehensive review of a small community CI-based economic development program support positive sectoral and regional economic development results arising from these programs.

CI programs can be used as part of a government’s regional and sectoral economic development approach. CI can be used to assist with decision-making both within and outside the government. This paper identifies several different kinds of programs that can be used to further a government’s economic development agenda.

There are very few articles that examine how governments have helped companies to develop CI and how they have used CI, and none has looked at the impact of these on regional and sectoral economic development. This paper, based on the author’s experiences, provides a view of the Canadian programs and their impact on regional/sectoral economic development.

Many commentators believe that we are racing into the age of Information Technology (IT). If in most cases the reality lags some way behind the image, it nevertheless remains the case that organisations are increasingly investing in, or considering investing in, a wide range of new high technologies. In manufacturing firms, for example, computerised numerically controlled machine tools are in widespread application, and robots, flexible manufacturing systems and computer‐aided design are no longer rare. A similar picture emerges with regard to office‐based technologies, such as management information and word processing systems, and within service‐oriented organisations where innovations include, for example, Electronic Point Of Sale (EPOS) in retailing and direct debit and credit transfer in banking.