Scheduling a multi-stage production system with startup delays

The problem treated is that of multi-stage scheduling as affected by the interdependence of successive stages. An algorithm is developed which incorporates startup delays as analytical functions of cycle times and production rates at adjacent stages. This is accomplished in part by imposing integer multiple restrictions on the relationship between the cycle times at adjacent stages. Total cost is then minimized for a given set of integer multiples.     

Responsive Listening in Long-Married Couples: A Psycholinguistic Perspective

Positive and responsive listening behavior benefits marital satisfaction, but previous reports have examined emotionally positive behavior confounded with responsive behavior, and focused primarily on younger marriages. Psycholinguistic views of listening suggest that responsive listening is distinct from emotionally positive listening. The former may change with an aging relationship, while the latter is unlikely to do so. Long-married couples share extensive common ground about recurrent conflicts, reducing the need for some listening behaviors. We observed 79 younger and older married couples, happily and unhappily married, discussing conflicts. We coded listening behaviors indicative of attention and comprehension (responsiveness) as well as those expressing emotions. We expected that older married couples would display lower frequencies of responsive listening behaviors than middle-aged couples. Results provide conditional support for this hypothesis. Implications for research on marital communication and aging are discussed.     

The dynamic,complex and diverse living and care arrangements of young New Zealanders: implications for policy

The living arrangements of young people in New Zealand are diverse and often complex. In this article we report the range of care and living arrangements of 209 15-year-old New Zealanders, 47 of whom identified as Māori. These young people were participants in the second generation of a cohort study. Data were collected from their parents via a life history calendar and analysed for variety and consistency of care arrangements, household membership and transitions. Few participants had a consistent pattern of parental care arrangements and most had experienced multiple changes in household composition and frequent changes of address. We conclude that the whānau/family lives of many young New Zealanders are complex and dynamic. These observations contrast with the conventional notions of family life that form the basis for New Zealand’s family policies. We argue that social policies and services impacting on young people need to reflect the lived reality of young people if they are to meet young people’s needs.     

Decade Review: Observing Marital Interaction

This article reviews the advances made in the decade of the 1990s in observing marital interaction. Many technological advances in data collection, including synchronization of physiology, behavior, and cognition, and advances in data analysis such as sequential analysis, have yielded new understanding and advances in prediction of marital outcomes. The advances have also included the study of developmental processes, including the transition to parenthood and the study of midlife and older marriages. Central advances have been made in the study of affect and the study of power and in their integration. This advance has included the mathematical modeling of interaction using nonlinear difference equations and the development of typologies. There has been an added focus on health outcomes and the bidirectional effects of marriages on children. There has been an expansion of the study of marital interaction to common comorbid psychopathologies. Most important has been emergent theorizing based on the interaction of behavior, perception, and physiology, as well as their predictive power.     

Results of Gottman Method Couples Therapy with Gay and Lesbian Couples

The results of an uncontrolled study of Gottman Method Couples Therapy in changing relationship satisfaction with 106 gay and lesbian couples is reported in this paper. Measurement of relationship satisfaction was conducted at five separate time points. The data show significant improvements in relationship satisfaction following eleven sessions of therapy for both gay male and lesbian couples. Effect sizes suggest that this therapy was highly effective, compared to the usual 0.5 standard deviation effect size in couples therapy. Initial co‐morbidities did not affect the size of the changes; in fact, some changes were significantly larger for three initial co‐morbidities.     

Observing gay, lesbian and heterosexual couples' relationships: mathematical modeling of conflict interaction

Two samples of committed gay and lesbian cohabiting couples and two samples of married couples (couples in which the woman presented the conflict issue to the man, and couples in which the man presented the conflict issue to the woman) engaged in three conversations: (1) an events of the day conversation (after being apart for at least 8 hours), (2) a conflict resolution conversation, and (3) a pleasant topic conversation. The observational data were coded with a system that categorized specific affects displayed. Data were weighted and two time-series created, one for the husband and one of the wife. The time series were modeled with nonlinear difference equations (Cook et al., 1995), and parameters were estimated that indexed uninfluenced steady state, influenced steady state, emotional inertia, repair effectiveness and threshold, and the power of positive and negative affect of one partner to affect the other partner.     

Closeness in Young Adult Sibling Relationships: Affective and Physiological Processes

What aspects of the relationships of young adult siblings are related to closeness or distance? This study takes a process approach to answering this question, contrasting it with the status approach of family structure variables. Close and distant sibling pairs were compared on physiological variables and specific aspects of warmth, con-flict, and power during two conversations - one on enjoyable topics and one on topics of disagreement. While there was no evidence that sibling closeness was related to family structure variables, differences in closeness were found in affective patterns and physiological responses during sibling interaction. Interaction between close sib-lings was characterized not only by higher positive affect but also by fewer power struggles and lower heart rate reactivity. Close siblings also had higher scores on emotional empathy and cognitive aspects of empathy such as perspective-taking than distant siblings. The developmental importance of considering power struggles in young adult sibling relationships was also discussed.