Who Receives Food Stamps During Adulthood? Analyzing Repeatable Events With Incomplete Event Histories

Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) from 1968 to 2005, we estimate the cumulative probability that young adults in the United States will receive food stamps during adulthood, and examine how that probability varies with an individual’s income and education at age 25 as well as by race and gender. We find that the probability of first food stamp receipt as an adult declines sharply with age, indicating that most adult recipients do so by age 40. Also, those receiving food stamps in early adulthood are likely to receive them again. For these reasons, and because food stamp receipt is a repeatable event, life table analyses that include individuals who are not observed until after they become exposed to the risk of food stamp receipt (whom we label “late entrants”) are likely to overstate cumulative participation during adulthood. For example, one often-cited study included individuals who enter their sample after age 20 (late entrants) and report that 50.8% of 20-year-olds are recipients by age 65. In contrast, when we exclude late entrants, we find that 39.2% of 20-year-olds and 29.7% of 25-year-olds receive benefits during adulthood.     

Functions of riparian forest in urban catchments: a case study from sub-tropical Brisbane,Australia

Riparian forests are vital for maintaining healthy stream ecosystems; acting as buffers against nutrient and contaminant inputs, contributing energy subsidies and providing favorable instream habitat conditions. In urban catchments riparian forests are often degraded or cleared, removing the ecosystem functions the forest provides. Intact riparian forest along urban waterways, may mitigate some aspects of degradation associated with an urbanized catchment. In Bulimba Creek, an urbanized catchment in southeast Queensland, Australia, we investigated some ecosystem functions provided by riparian forest. We found that during baseflow periods a forested riparian corridor provided energy subsidies to the stream through litterfall and had a controlling influence on instream production through shading. Denitrification potential of benthic sediments increased with increasing levels of woody debris and organic matter, deposited from riparian vegetation. Denitrification was nitrate limited, indicating some potential to reduce nitrate loads in the stream. Riparian soils also showed moderate denitrification potential; which, through management strategies, could be utilized to reduce excess nitrate loads. These results suggest that riparian forests provide important functions for urban streams; highlighting the importance of conserving forest remnants in urban landscapes and the usefulness of replanting degraded riparian forest to enhance stream health and habitat condition.     

Survey Research on Taiwan

In recent years, a number of the obstacles to survey researchon Taiwan have been overcome. The growing but still limitednumber of surveys conducted show a populace with relativelymoderate levels of satisfaction following a period of spectaculareconomic growth. Increased living standards are widely appreciated,but levels of aspiration also have risen, particularly amongthe educated. Deep ambivalence seems to be felt toward the socialand political changes accompanying industrial growth and towardWestern social, political, and moral ideas in general. At present,the island offers fruitful opportunities for the study of publicopinion in a relatively nondemocratic state.     

The Educator as Advocate: The Gerontologist in an Academic Setting

The educator in a school of social work functions not only as a teacher of students but also as an advocate. The educator-advocate as gerontologist must simultaneously develop a core training in aging, induce other faculty members to add gerontological content, build interdisciplinary bridges with other academic units, and influence other educational institutions. The role of advocate demands a flexible use of strategies and tactics as well as evaluations of process and products, identification of factors associated with success and failure, and formulation of policy recommendations.     

Conflict of Interest Policies and Industry Relationships of Guideline Development Group Members: A Cross-Sectional Study of Clinical Practice Guidelines for Depression

Because of increased attention to the issue of trustworthiness of clinical practice guidelines, it may be that both transparency and management of industry associations of guideline development groups (GDGs) have improved. The purpose of the present study was to assess a) the disclosure requirements of GDGs in a cross-section of guidelines for major depression; and, b) the extent and type of conflicts of panel members. Treatment guidelines for major depression were identified and searched for conflict of interest policies and disclosure statements. Multi-modal screens for undeclared conflicts were also conducted. Fourteen guidelines with a total of 172 panel members were included in the analysis. Eleven of the 14 guidelines (78%) had a stated conflict of interest policy or disclosure statement, although the policies varied widely. Most (57%) of the guidelines were developed by panels that had members with industry financial ties to drug companies that manufacture antidepressant medication. However, only a minority of total panel members (18%) had such conflicts of interest. Drug company speakers bureau participation was the most common type of conflict. Although some progress has been made, organizations that develop guidelines should continue to work toward greater transparency and minimization of financial conflicts of interest.     

Physician-administrator cooperation in the postprofessional era.

The basic question this article seeks to explore is how to reconcile HCO interests and physician interests in a time when interdependence is as high as or higher than ever before, yet once convergent interests appear to be diverging sharply? To do this, the major trends and forces affecting both HCOs and MDs will be outlined; then the issues facing each will be discussed, together with their responses; and finally the key interface problems will be laid out, together with possible strategic approaches.     

Street children in Russia: steps to prevention

This article examines the historical evolution of the development of social policy toward street children in Russia and makes recommendations for prevention. The historical examination begins with the Soviet period, when statistics on social problems were not publicly known. It continues through the post-Soviet period when there was an emerging awareness about the increasing number of abused, abandoned children and children living on the streets. Etiological factors, such as child maltreatment and parental substance abuse, are then discussed. Based on these etiological factors, the article then proposes a model in which existing institutions and professionals are supported in facilitating an integrated system of primary, secondary and tertiary prevention. This includes improving child protection services and interventions to prevent children leaving their homes, early identification of children who are becoming involved in street life and a continuum of care for children who cannot return home.     

Characteristics of the maximal independent set ZDD

Zero-suppressed binary decision diagrams (ZDDs) are important data structures that are used in a number of combinatorial optimization settings. This paper explores a ZDD characterization for the maximal independent sets of a graph; a necessary and sufficient condition for when nodes in the ZDD can be merged is provided, and vertex orderings of the graph are studied to determine which orderings produce smaller ZDDs. A bound on the width of the maximal independent set ZDD is obtained, relating it to the Fibonacci numbers. Finally, computational results are reported.