Crisis intervention and social casework: Similarities and differences in problem-solving

Summary The similarities and differences between the traditional psychosocial approach to casework and that of crisis intervention have been discussed with the use of illustrative case material. It is important to recognize that while crisis intervention is justifiably subsumed under the generalist concept of social work theory and practice on the basis of their striking similarities, it is necessary for the sake of professional clarity to differentiate between the two forms of problem-solving treatment methodologies in terms of goals, process, and structure.     

Optimal solutions versus ‘good’ solutions: An analysis of heuristic decision making

The portion of business problems which lend themselves to solution by existing optimization techniques are a minor subset of the business problems which can be defined and attacked by logical devices. Heuristics simplify the environment of the decision maker by permitting him to make decisions quickly without considering the innumerable ways that each decision could be made. This paper compares the heuristic programming approach to more traditional operations research techniques of decision making.     

Size in Residential Service Organizations*

Data from 23 alcoholism halfway houses are analyzed to assess the relationship of four aspects of organizational size to three levels of organizational functioning. As identified by Kimberly (1976), the dimensions of size are (1) personnel, (2) inputs/outputs, (3) physical capacity, and (4) amount of discretionary resources. The three levels of organizational analysis are (1) internal (reflecting social control issues), (2) external (organization-environment relations), and (3) socio-technical (core technology issues). The amount of discretionary resources, followed closely by personnel size, is the dimension of size most relevant to all three aspects of organizational opcrations. Contrary to expectations, input-volume (or number of residential clients) was related negatively both to a more differentiated internal structure and to supportive organization-environment relations. Also unexpected, client-size had little relationship to the programming or staffing aspects of the core technology. Physical capacity (number of client beds) was the least significant aspect of size for this sample of organizations. Additional analyses of size as a multi-dimensional concept and refinement in theories relating size to the structure and operations of residential service organizations are needed.     

The Marginal Utility of Information: Its Effects upon Decision-Making*

This paper specifies how the importance or marginal utility of information can change as a function of both its amount and evaluation. Three simple mathematical models are presented: each describes a different relation between decision-making and the amount and evaluation of information available to actors. The model which best describes the data suggests that it cannot be assumed that information of the same type necessarily has the same weight or utility for actors' decision-making.     

Organizational communication and the symbolic construction of police murder investigations

This paper draws upon a range of empirical data to consider the ways in which police murder investigations are symbolically constructed, both within and outside of the police organization. It is argued that a range of communicative formats serve to produce the activities associated with police murder investigations in a way that serves to legitimate the police function to both members of the public and police officers alike. A particular emphasis is placed upon understanding the connections between informal and formal communications, and the instrumental and expressive objectives that variously underpin them.     

Can 401(k) accumulations generate significant income for future retirees?

This Issue Brief develops a model that project the proportion of an individual's preretirement income that might be replaced by 401(k) plan accumulations at retirement, under several different projected scenarios. The 401(k) participant behaviors in the model are based on the year-end 2000 database collected by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and the Investment Company Institute (ICI) in their collaborative effort known as the EBRI/ICI Participant-Directed Retirement Plan Data Collection Project. The most significant factor affecting projected replacement rates at retirement is having access to a 401(k) plan. Projected replacement rates from 401(k) accumulations at retirement are reduced significantly when participants are not offered a 401(k) plan in all portions of their careers. Most 401(k) participants tend to have contributions in any given year. Thus, projecting that participants always have contributions (their own and/or employer contributions) every year raises projected replacement rates, but not by much compared with the importance of being offered a plan to begin with. The model simulations show that participant activities such as taking loans, taking preretirement withdrawals, or cashing out account balances at job change reduce projected 401(k) accumulations and thus replacement rates at age 65. Because loans are forecast to be paid back to the account in full, their effect on replacement rates at retirement in the model is the smallest. Even if equity returns in the future are projected to replicate the worst 50-year segment in the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 history (1929 to 1978), 401(k) accumulations are still projected to replace significant proportions of projected preretirement income. Another projection scenario forecasts participants experiencing a simulated three-year bear market (negative equity returns) either early in their careers, near the middle of their careers, or at the end of their careers. Forecasts of the effects of bear markets on 401(k) balances show that a bear market in equities is projected to have the largest effect the closer it occurs to age 65 (retirement), even though older participants typically have diversified their portfolios away from equities. A three-year bear market for those early in their careers would reduce median replacement rates from 401(k) accumulations by an estimated 2.9-3.7 percentage points, compared with 13.4-17.7 percentage points for those immediately before retirement. Similarly, a simulated three-year bull market (positive equity returns) is projected to have a larger positive effect on projected account balances and replacement rates the closer it occurs to retirement.     

Urbanization and warming of Phoenix (Arizona,USA): Impacts,feedbacks and mitigation

This paper examines the impacts, feedbacks, and mitigation of the urban heat island in Phoenix, Arizona (USA). At Sky Harbor Airport, urbanization has increased the nighttime minimum temperature by 5°C and the average daily temperatures by 3.1°C. Urban warming has increased the number of misery hours per day for humans, which may have important social consequences. Other impacts include (1) increased energy consumption for heating and cooling of buildings, (2) increased heat stress (but decreased cold stress) for plants, (3) reduced quality of cotton fiber and reduced dairy production on the urban fringe, and (4) a broadening of the seasonal thermal window for arthropods. Climate feedback loops associated with evapotranspiration, energy production and consumption associated with increased air conditioning demand, and land conversion are discussed. Urban planning and design policy could be redesigned to mitigate urban warming, and several cities in the region are incorporating concerns regarding urban warming into planning codes and practices. The issue is timely and important, because most of the world's human population growth over the next 30 years will occur in cities in warm climates.     

Corrected p-values for tests based on estimated nuisance parameters

In some situations the asymptotic distribution of a random function T _n() that depends on a nuisance parameter is tractable when has known value. In that case it can be used as a test statistic, if suitably constructed, for some hypothesis. However, in practice, often needs to be replaced by an estimator S _n. In this paper general results are given concerning the asymptotic distribution of T _n(S _n) that include special cases previously dealt with. In particular, some situations are covered where the usual likelihood theory is nonregular and extreme values are employed to construct estimators and test statistics.