Childhood family structure and young adult behaviors

This paper examines a wide variety of forms, and full histories, of family structure to test existing theories of family influences and identify needs for new theories. The focus is on links between childhood family structure and both completed schooling and risk of a nonmarital birth. Using a 27-year span of panel (PSID) data for U.S. children, we find that: (a) change is stressful, (b) timing during childhood is relevant, (c) adults other than parents are important, and (d) two more recently studied family structures (mother-with-grandparent(s) and mother-with-stepfather) do not fit the molds of existing theories. The findings suggest that new theories should consider allocation of resources and reasons people group into family structures. Received: 11 September 1998/Accepted: 27 March 2000     

‘The cloak of competence’: Assessment dilemmas in social work education

In the face of administrative and pedagogic changes in professional social work training, educators and trainers face considerable uncertainty. Key dilemmas concern what is meant by competence, and how far it is possible to identify and reconcile technical and ideological competencies. This paper uses empirical material from a semi-participant study to explore the relevance of the concept ‘cloak of competence’, with reference to the behaviour of tutors and practice teachers. It suggests that excessive or continuous uncertainty generates avoidance or coping strategies, which lead to a resolution by the achievement of an appearance of competence. The consequences of these processes for staff development are then briefly considered.     

Probabilistic Reliability Modeling for Oil Exploration & Production (E&P) Facilities in the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve

The aging domestic oil production infrastructure represents a high risk to the environment because of the type of fluids being handled (oil and brine) and the potential for accidental release of these fluids into sensitive ecosystems. Currently, there is not a quantitative risk model directly applicable to onshore oil exploration and production (E&P) facilities. We report on a probabilistic reliability model created for onshore exploration and production (E&P) facilities. Reliability theory, failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA), and event trees were used to develop the model estimates of the failure probability of typical oil production equipment. Monte Carlo simulation was used to translate uncertainty in input parameter values to uncertainty in the model output. The predicted failure rates were calibrated to available failure rate information by adjusting probability density function parameters used as random variates in the Monte Carlo simulations. The mean and standard deviation of normal variate distributions from which the Weibull distribution characteristic life was chosen were used as adjustable parameters in the model calibration. The model was applied to oil production leases in the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, Oklahoma. We present the estimated failure probability due to the combination of the most significant failure modes associated with each type of equipment (pumps, tanks, and pipes). The results show that the estimated probability of failure for tanks is about the same as that for pipes, but that pumps have much lower failure probability. The model can provide necessary equipment reliability information for proactive risk management at the lease level by providing quantitative information to base allocation of maintenance resources to high-risk equipment that will minimize both lost production and ecosystem damage.     

Never the Right Age? Gender and Age‐Based Discrimination in Employment

Although UK legislation against age discrimination is required by December 2006, little is yet known about how ageism affects different age categories of employees, and the gender dimensions of ageism have also been neglected. Both issues were investigated by questionnaire survey, producing responses from over 1000 employees of a major UK financial services enterprise. The extent and manifestations of ageism were found to vary across age categories and by sex, and evidence of gendered ageism emerged. Reported examples of ageism were highest among younger and older age categories, but all age groups were affected to some degree. Across all ages, women were more likely than men to experience ageist attitudes concerning appearance or sexuality. To be effective, legislation will need to cater for the complex nature and patterns of age discrimination revealed, though the comparator problem and other complexities are such that important aspects of age prejudice, including gender dimensions, risk being overlooked.     

Employment and the Risk of Domestic Abuse Among Low‐Income Women

This paper uses data from 2 randomized evaluations of welfare‐to‐work programs—the Minnesota Family Investment Program and the National Evaluation of Welfare‐to‐Work Strategies—to estimate the effect of employment on domestic abuse among low‐income single mothers. Unique to our analysis is the application of a 2‐stage least squares method, in which random assignment enables us to control for omitted characteristics that might otherwise confound the association between employment and domestic abuse. We find that increased maternal employment decreases subsequent reports of domestic abuse in both studies. In the Minnesota Family Investment Program—a program with an enhanced income disregard that allowed welfare mothers to keep a portion of their welfare income as earnings rose—an increase in household incomes appears to have contributed to reductions in reports of domestic abuse.     

Allocation of research and development funds: A zero-one goal programming approach

The research and development project selection process is one of the most difficult and important problems faced by management. It is typically complicated by indivisibility of projects and multiple and conflicting objectives, in addition to limitations on funding, facilities, and qualified researchers. In this paper a case example involving a high technology electrical equipment manufacturer is developed to illustrate this problem using zero—one goal programming to accommodate indivisibility of projects in addition to multiple and conflicting goals. The model presented is an attempt to provide managers with a robust tool for allocating scarce resources among research and development projects.     

Change,clarity and clausewitz

The framework of laws which in the past has governed the interaction of technology and business is proving inadequate as the scale and interconnectedness of economic, social and technological problems accelerate. The author evinces the need for new systems of control wherein both the macro and micro levels of perception of and response to large scale, multifaceted problems can be harmonised.