A Methodology for Integrating Tsunami Inundation Modelling into Land Use Planning in New Zealand

Guidance has been produced for land use planners and decision-makers on how tsunami inundation modelling can be included into land use planning. The process of developing the guideline included exploring the difficulties in integrating physical science models into land use planning with a focus on tsunami. These difficulties included addressing uncertainty and reconciling planners' needs with the capability of the modellers. The guidance was based on two key questions. (1) How can tsunami modelling be incorporated into land use planning? (2) What information do planners need from modellers to improve planning and policy for tsunami? The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief overview of the guideline, with the aim of assisting others in producing similar guidance for implementing tsunami modelling into land use planning. The guideline includes tsunami basics, a decision tree for including tsunami risk into land use planning, which forms the basis of the guideline.     

Nonstationary panel data analysis: an overview of some recent developments

This paper overviews some recent developments in panel data asymptotics, concentrating on the nonstationary panel case and gives a new result for models with individual effects. Underlying recent theory are asymptotics for multi-indexed processes in which both indexes may pass to infinity. We review some of the new limit theory that has been developed, show how it can be applied and give a new interpretation of individual effects in nonstationary panel data. Fundamental to the interpretation of much of the asymptotics is the concept of a panel regression coefficient which measures the long run average relation across a section of the panel. This concept is analogous to the statistical interpretation of the coefficient in a classical regression relation. A variety of nonstationary panel data models are discussed and the paper reviews the asymptotic properties of estimators in these various models. Some recent developments in panel unit root tests and stationary dynamic panel regression models are also reviewed.     

Karen Horney and Psychotherapy in the 21st Century

Many ideas currently circulating in the psychological and psychoanalytic communities have correspondence with the theories put forth by Karen Horney during the first half of the twentieth century. This paper provides an overview of Horney’s theoretical departures from Freud and an introduction to her then controversial views of motivation and relationship. Compatibility between Horney’s ideas and attachment theory, self-psychology, intersubjectivity, and the person in the environment is discussed. Two clinical cases are presented, illustrating Horney’s theory and approach. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2004 National Meeting of the Committee on Psychoanalysis of the Federation of Societies for Clinical Social Work in New York.     

Children’s Economic Well‐Being in Married and Cohabiting Parent Families

Increasingly, children are living with cohabiting parents. Prior work on the material well‐being of children living in cohabiting families is extended by including the biological relationship of children to adults, examining the racial and ethnic variations, and investigating the multiple indicators of material well‐being. We draw on the 1999 National Survey of America’s Families (N =34,509). Our findings suggest that children can potentially benefit from living with a cohabiting partner whose resources are shared with family members. Although children living with married rather than cohabiting parents fare better in terms of material well‐being, this advantage is accounted for by race and ethnic group and parents’ education. Marriage appears to provide more material advantages to White children than to Black or Latino children.     

FEMALE CAREGIVERS’ REFLECTIONS ON ETHICAL DECISION-MAKING: THE INTERSECTION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND ELDER CARE

As our population ages, increasing numbers of social workers and other therapists will provide counseling to women who are caregivers of frail elders. These female caregivers often face complex ethical dilemmas in caring for a frail elder. Furthermore, these dilemmas are compounded by domestic violence in the caregiver/frail elder relationship initiated before the onset of caregiving. Illustrated with case examples, this article presents an ethical decision-making model based on an empowerment framework for helping practitioners work with caregivers who face difficult dilemmas impacted by domestic violence. Implications for strengthening clinical practice with these caregivers are discussed.     

Married and Cohabiting Parents’ Relationship Stability: A Focus on Race and Ethnicity

We draw on three waves of the Fragile Families Study (N =2,249) to examine family stability among a recent birth cohort of children. We find that children born to cohabiting versus married parents have over five times the risk of experiencing their parents’ separation. This difference in union stability is greatest for White children, as compared with Black or Mexican American children. For White children, differences in parents’ education levels, paternal substance abuse, and prior marriage and children account for the higher instability faced by those born to cohabiting parents, whereas differences in union stability are not fully explained among Black and Mexican American children. These findings have implications for policies aimed at promoting family stability and reducing inequality.     

Independence pays: a cost and resource analysis of direct payments in two local authorities

Although there is an increasing amount of literature on direct payments (DP), to date there have been few studies which have examined in any detail the costs and resources associated with them. This paper presents findings from a two year study conducted in two Welsh local authorities that jointly fund an Independent Living Support (ILS) scheme. The main study was not designed to provide definitive cost comparisons with conventional services, however, cost and resource implications of DP were considered and an analysis to determine comparative costs between DP and traditional services was undertaken. The study notes the difficulty in identifying the true cost of DP and reasonable comparators with traditional services. A set of four case studies are presented comparing actual costs of DP and in‐house and independent sector services in the two local authorities studied. The comparison of costs and resources, which did not include significant costs for traditional local authority services but included the cost of the DP support scheme, found that DP was cheaper than traditional in‐house service provision and relatively cost neutral when compared with independent sector provision. User satisfaction, however, was significantly greater with DP than traditional service delivery methods. The paper also examines factors which can potentially influence the cost of DP. The study suggests that DP represent a substantial improvement over traditional arrangements from a cost–benefit perspective. There is strong evidence to suggest that greater ‘opportunity cost’ savings can be anticipated when DP schemes become more fully integrated into policy, practice and procedures.     

Age-related slowing of movement as basal ganglia dysfunction

Attributions of age-related deficits in motor function to structural changes are compromised once the elderly exhibit lower error rates. This is because performance decrements observed in older adults are attributed to inferred strategic preferences for accuracy over speed. To understand genuine age differences in performance, we argue in the following theoretical paper that research needs to resolve methodological shortcomings and account for them within theoretical models of aging. Accounts of aging need to directly manipulate or control strategic differences in performance while assessing structural deficits. When this is done, age-related changes in motor control resemble the intermittencies of control seen in basal ganglia disorders. Given homologous circuitry in the basal ganglia, such observations could generalize to age-related changes in cognitive and emotional processes.     

Developing Qualitative Career Assessment Processes

Assessment has been integral to career counseling since the early 1900s. During that time, the greatest amount of attention was focused on quantitative assessment. Thus, there is still very little to guide the development and conduct of qualitative assessment in career counseling. The authors present an overview of qualitative career assessment and its theoretical underpinnings and propose suggestions that could guide the development of qualitative career assessment instruments.     

Sleep hygiene practices and sleep duration in rotating-shift shiftworkers

Alcohol, caffeine and tobacco intake, exercise, activities on going to bed, and sleep-enhancing measures were assessed in 72 rotating-shift shiftworkers to determine whether these variables differ following day shifts and night-shifts, and which are related to sleep duration. Only alcohol intake and exercise prior to sleep, and feeling drowsy when retiring, differed following the night-shift. Workers generally followed recommendations concerning alcohol intake, sleeping immediately on retiring, and exercising, but acted contrary to recommendations concerning caffeine and nicotine intake. The only behaviour clearly associated with poor sleep was smoking, which reduced sleep duration.