SCOPE

This article presents an integrated framework for multi‐attribute decision making named SCOPE (System for Combined Planning and Evaluation) that was developed to assess infrastructure policy initiatives—in complex decision environments. The framework comprises scanning as well as assessment issues that are supported by a methodology of both a systemic and a systematic type. Specific use is made of operational research methods such as critical systems heuristics, scenario technique, stakeholder analysis and multi‐attribute decision making (MADM). To deal with issues of complexity and ambiguity, planning is redefined as being a systemic endeavour embedded in multi‐methodology and reflection‐in‐practice. The article addresses the purpose, background and principles of systemic planning, and exemplifies the SCOPE process with reference to the Øresund Fixed Link.     

The "Europeanization" of Spanish Social Policy

The principal features of Spanish social policy are examined since the transition to democracy in the mid-1970s. The period has been dominated by the four governments of the Socialists under Felipe Gonzalez. It will be argued that in terms of the reform of welfare goals and institutional arrangements, as well as welfare inputs and outputs, a significant degree of “Europeanization” has been achieved. This is especially true of the later period of Gonzalez's premiership in which this process, initiated during the Transition, was accelerated.     

The impact of foster care privatization on multiple placements

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of foster care privatization policy on multiple placements in Florida's foster care system. A variant of the interrupted time series design allowed for an assessment of privatization policy within 282 data points (six years of data nested in 47 counties). Results from hierarchical linear analysis models identified a significant effect for privatization while controlling for a major alternative explanation. Specifically, the percent of children in fewer than three placements was significantly lower in the post-privatization years than in the pre-privatization years. This effect varied across counties. Line graphs revealed a variety of trends among providers, which may explain the variation of privatization's effect across counties. These results have implications for policymakers seeking to address the goal of permanence and for child welfare administrators involved in the implementation of privatization policy.     

The transition from in-home services to out-of-home care: A Danish register-based study

Objective

This register-based study describes the transition from in home-based care to placements in out-of-home care. It also describes whether children who enter care directly differ from children who enter care after episodes of in home-based care.

Method

The study includes all children who entered the child protection system of a larger regional social service system in Denmark from 1993 to 2006 (N = 9961). Graphs of cumulative incidences were used to describe transitions into out-of-home care within two years after in home-based care started. Cox regression models are used to estimate the impacts of child and parental characteristics. In addition, Chi² tests are used to identify differences between children who enter care directly and children who receive in home-based care.

Results

Results indicate that the majority of children do not enter out-of-home care but that risks differ among age groups. Covariates did not predict transitions into out-of-home care for those who entered in-home care after becoming teenagers. Especially for those who entered in-home care before entering their teens, the psychiatric histories of the mothers and the children predicted the transitions into out-of-home care. Immigration background was a protective factor for those who entered in-home care as pre-scholars. Depending on the age group, low birth weight, children's fathers' and mothers' psychiatric histories, and single parentship were all characteristics more likely to be associated with children who entered care directly. Children who entered care directly differed from children who entered care within two years after an in home-based service had been initiated on covariates that described psychiatric history.     

“Responsiveness of mature oak trees (Quercus robur L.) to soil water dynamics and meteorological constraints in urban environments”

Urban Ecosystems - Urban trees contribute to the regulation of microclimates of cities through transpirational cooling. The main environmental factors determining transpiration are evaporative...     

On the Markov Equivalence of Chain Graphs, Undirected Graphs, and Acyclic Digraphs

Graphical Markov models use undirected graphs (UDGs), acyclic directed graphs (ADGs), or (mixed) chain graphs to represent possible dependencies among random variables in a multivariate distribution. Whereas a UDG is uniquely determined by its associated Markov model, this is not true for ADGs or for general chain graphs (which include both UDGs and ADGs as special cases). This paper addresses three questions regarding the equivalence of graphical Markov models: when is a given chain graph Markov equivalent (1) to some UDG? (2) to some (at least one) ADG? (3) to some decomposable UDG? The answers are obtained by means of an extension of Frydenberg’s (1990) elegant graph-theoretic characterization of the Markov equivalence of chain graphs.