Evaluating the Applicability of the Miles and Snow Typology in a Regulated Public Utility Environment

This paper examines and evaluates the applicability of the Miles and Snow organizational strategy, structure and process model to the electricity distribution and supply industry of England and Wales (ESI), and specifically the regional electricity companies (RECs). In the past such generic strategy models have principally been applied to industries that conform to the traditional free-market paradigm, and doubt has been cast upon their applicability in non-traditional environments. This paper argues in contrast that generic strategies are of considerable value in the regulated industries, especially those developing new strategies to address major change, such as the approach of full competition. As a feature of this process, the paper also examines some of the differences and similarities between the ESI and the traditional free-market paradigm. However, having argued for the use of such strategies, it is necessary to make various amendments to enhance the applicability of the model. These amendments and the characteristics of new generic strategies are described.     

An econometric and neoclassical analysis of the timing and spacing of births in Canada from 1950 to 1990

This paper estimates a reduced form neoclassical model of Canadian fertility dynamics using an econometric technique that integrates several features not usually found in the demographic and economic literature. We find considerable support for the neoclassical model. We also find that correlated unobservables and parity stopping effects play an important role in Canadian fertility dynamics as well as other socio-demographic features of Canadian women. However, we fail to totally characterize the important drops in the fertility rate that took place for this era. Received: 2 May 1996 / Accepted: 27 March 1997     

City-wide relationships between green spaces,urban land use and topography

The growing proportion of human populations living in urban areas, and consequent trends of increasing urban expansion and densification fuel a need to understand how urban form and land use affect environmental quality, including the availability of urban green spaces. Here we use Sheffield as a case study of city-wide relationships between urban green space extent, quality (vegetation cover and tree-cover), and gradients in urban form and topography. The total area of buildings and length of the road network are equally strong negative predictors of extent of green space, while the former predictor is a more important negative influence upon green space quality. Elevation positively influences extent of green space but negatively influences tree-cover. In contrast, slope of terrain positively influences green space quality and is the best predictor of tree-cover. Overall housing density is a more important negative predictor of extent of green space and tree-cover than the densities of individual housing types. Nevertheless, the latter are more important influences upon levels of vegetation cover. Threshold effects of densities of different housing types suggest opportunities for optimising green space quality, with implications for housing policy. Variation in ecological quality of green space may partly reflect different historical intensities of industrial activity.     

Globalization, the Welfare State and Young People Leaving State Out-of-Home Care

Some theories of globalization argue that it is producing a uniform reduction in social spending, while others claim that global influences are mediated by specific national factors. This article argues that the emergence of support for young people leaving state out-of-home care in almost all developed countries provides further evidence for the mediation thesis. Using Australia as a case study, attention is drawn to the commonality of poor outcomes for many care leavers, the different legislative and policy responses to these needs in a range of welfare states, and the role played by local and global researchers and policy advocates in bringing these needs to public and political attention.     

A Multistate Life Table Analysis of Union Regimes in the United States: Trends and Racial Differentials, 1970–2002

We estimate trends and racial differentials in marriage, cohabitation, union formation and dissolution (union regimes) for the period 1970–2002 in the United States. These estimates are based on an innovative application of multistate life table analysis to pooled survey data. Our analysis demonstrates (1) a dramatic increase in the lifetime proportions of transitions from never-married, divorced or widowed to cohabiting; (2) a substantial decrease in the stability of cohabiting unions; (3) a dramatic increase in mean ages at cohabiting after divorce and widowhood; (4) a substantial decrease in direct transition from never-married to married; (5) a significant decrease in the overall lifetime proportion of ever marrying and re-marrying in the 1970s to 1980s but a relatively stable pattern in the 1990s to 2000–2002; and (6) a substantial decrease in the lifetime proportion of transition from cohabiting to marriage. We also present, for the first time, comparable evidence on differentials in union regimes between four racial groups.     

Estimating the transmission probability of human immunodeficiency virus in injecting drug users in Thailand

We estimate the transmission probability for the human immunodeficiency virus from seroconversion data of a cohort of injecting drug users (IDUs) in Thailand. The transmission probability model developed accounts for interval censoring and incorporates each IDU's reported frequency of needle sharing and injecting acts. Using maximum likelihood methods, the per needle sharing act transmission probability estimate between infectious and susceptible IDUs is 0.008. The effects of covariates, disease dynamics, mismeasured exposure information and the uncertainty of the disease prevalence on the transmission probability estimate are considered.     

Chains and networks,territories and scales: towards a relational framework for analysing the global economy

A vast and continually expanding literature on economic globalization continues to generate a miasma of conflicting viewpoints and alternative discourses. This article argues that any understanding of the global economy must be sensitive to four considerations: (a) conceptual categories and labels carry with them the discursive power to shape material processes; (b) multiple scales of analysis must be incorporated in recognition of the contemporary ‘relativization of scale’; (c) no single institutional or organizational locus of analysis should be privileged; and (d) extrapolations from specific case studies and instances must be treated with caution, but this should not preclude the option of discussing the global economy, and power relations within it, as a structural whole. This paper advocates a network methodology as a potential framework to incorporate these concerns. Such a methodology requires us to identify actors in networks, their ongoing relations and the structural outcomes of these relations. Networks thus become the foundational unit of analysis for our understanding of the global economy, rather than individuals, firms or nation states. In presenting this argument we critically examine two examples of network methodology that have been used to provide frameworks for analysing the global economy: global commodity chains and actor‐network theory. We suggest that while they fall short of fulfilling the promise of a network methodology in some respects, they do provide indications of the utility of such a methodology as a basis for understanding the global economy.     

Relations Between Women's Depressive Symptoms and Perceptions of Infant Distress Signals Varying in Pitch

Fifteen nondepressed, 15 moderately depressed, and 15 severely depressed women rated tape‐recordings of a newborn infant's hunger cry digitally altered to increase in fundamental frequency in 100 Hz increments. Cries were rated on 4 perceptual (e.g., arousing‐not arousing) and 6 caregiving rating scale items (e.g., cuddle, feed) used in previous studies (Zeskind, 1983). Analyses of variance showed that, as cry pitch increased, cries were rated as more arousing, aversive, urgent, and sick sounding. Highest pitched cries received highest levels of caregiving interventions. Severely depressed women rated cries as less perceptually salient and less likely to elicit active caregiving responses. Interaction effects showed that severely depressed women were least responsive to highest pitched cries. These results suggest that women's depression may alter perceptions of infant distress signals, especially at times of greater infant distress.     

Creating Stable Racially and Ethnically Diverse Communities in the United States: A Model for the Future

We examine fourteen stable, racially and ethnically diverse communities in nine US cities to understand what produces such communities. These communities in the context of the US experience of increased, multiracial, and multiethnic diversity in the early twenty-first century can serve as a policy model as both the US and European nations look ahead toward more diverse societies. After providing a brief history of US segregation patterns, we provide an analysis of factors related to stable diversity. We found two types of diversity. Diversity-by-direction communities, which are more likely to be black:white communities, consciously worked to preserve diversity through an array of community-based efforts. Diverse-by-circumstance communities, which are more likely to be multiracial, multiethnic communities with significant immigrant populations, have been faced with an unplanned diversity, which they are now working to preserve. Among the characteristics of stable diverse communities are the presence of: social seams linking different groups, community organizations involved in preserving diversity, public discussion of values of what produces 'good' community, and distinctive physical or environmental characteristics that continue to attract new residents.