ON THE ESTIMATION OF TOTAL WEIGHT IN CHEMICAL BALANCE WEXGHING DESIGNS1

This paper is concerned with the problem of estimation of total weight in a chemical balance weighing design. Some results regarding the estimability of the total weight are obtained and a lower bound for the variance of the estimated total weight is given. Finally, a series of weighing designs estimating the total weight in an ‘optimum’ manner is reported.     

Sartre at his centennial: Errant master or moral compass?

The year 2005, that of Sartre’s centennial, saw a wide range of reactions to the ?uvre of the philosopher, especially since the almost unanimously negative articles that appeared in France contrasted with numerous positive reactions in the rest of the world. This article reviews some of the most extreme critiques against Sartre, and reveals the opinion of one of the leading intellectuals from the post-colonial era, Brazilian Culture Minister Gilberto Gil, a fierce pro-Sartrean figure. By addressing the interesting symptoms revealed by this Sartrean barometer, the article tries to decipher the divorce that appears between Sartre and French society. Finally, the article tries to encapsulate the problematic of Sartre as a public intellectual, in conjunction with his influence today.     

Comparing Child Poverty Risk by Family Structure During the 2008 Recession

Children in nonmarried families are at greater risk for poverty and especially so during a time of macroeconomic recession. Using carefully harmonized data, the authors analyze child poverty among nonmarried families before and during the 2008 recession in five liberal welfare states: Australia, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Although having similar demographic compositions, the authors document wide cross‐national variation in poverty risk based on marital status and gender of the household head. Through the recession, child poverty in Canada and the United Kingdom declined while it increased in Australia and Ireland and was largely unchanged in the United States. Decomposing changes within countries over time, family benefits in the form of income transfers play a major role in reducing poverty for nonmarried families. In all countries, children in cohabitating families were less protected from market instability.     

How Does a Cowboy Make Money? Using Student Curiosities to Further Elementary School Inquiries

This article explores examples of student-initiated inquiries (in Grades 1 and 5) and the opportunities and challenges with engaging in them. To explore these student-initiated inquiries, we use the C3 Framework Inquiry Arc (National Council for the Social Studies, 2013 National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). (2013). The college, career, and civic life (C3) framework for social studies state standards: Guidance for enhancing the rigor of K–12 civics, economics, geography and history. Silver Spring, MD: Author. [Google Scholar]) and Harvey and Daniels's (2009 Harvey, S., &; Daniels, H. (2009). Comprehension &; collaboration: Inquiry circles in action. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. [Google Scholar]) Small-Group Inquiry Model to describe the actions and interactions of two elementary school teachers and their students as they take student-initiated inquiries through various stages of the inquiry process. With each classroom example we include the challenges the teachers encountered and we make recommendations for inquiry-based instruction in elementary social studies.     

Testing Satisfaction with a Group-based Social Work Field Liaison Model: A Controlled Mixed Methods Study

Social work field education programs rely on the liaison process to oversee and support students during their placement and to assist them to integrate theory and practice. However, the role and importance of liaison has been threatened as social work programs seek alternative and cost-effective ways to undertake these functions. This paper presents findings from a pilot study investigating levels of satisfaction among students and field educators with an innovative group liaison model compared to a control group who experienced the standard liaison practice. Fifty-three students and 47 field educators completed the survey. Twenty-one of the students and 10 of the educators received the intervention (the group liaison); the remaining 32 students and 37 educators received the standard liaison process (the control group). Students in the intervention group reported significantly higher levels of satisfaction with all aspects of the liaison experience than students who received the standard liaison process. Field educators were more positive about liaison than students. This study reaffirms the contribution of face-to-face liaison contact to the student learning experience on placement and suggests that strengthening, rather than devaluing, the liaison role could be a useful strategy to encourage the field’s ongoing commitment to provision of quality placement-based learning opportunities.

IMPLICATIONS

• Highlights the importance of face-to-face liaison contact to the student learning experience on placement.

• Examines social work student and field educator perceptions of and satisfaction with the liaison process and content.

• Describes a group liaison model that potentially offers a cost effective way to undertake the role.

     

‘A Pest to Society’: The Charity Organisation Society's Domiciliary Assessments into the Circumstances of Poor Families and Children

This article examines the work of the Charity Organisation Society (COS) in assessing applications for children's admission to care in the late nineteenth‐century. It is based on an archive study of records kept by the ‘Waifs and Strays’ Society in England and Wales between 1882 and 1899, in particular 270 family assessments conducted by the COS. The focus was on parental behaviour rather than children's needs, with a strong narrative of taking children away to relieve parents of a burden. The research illuminates contested assumptions about childhood in the period, with resonance for current issues in policy and practice.     

Family support services delivered using a restorative approach: A framework for relationship and strengths‐based whole‐family practice

Family support services, an integral part of many welfare systems across the developed world, have witnessed a growing demand for the use of relationship and strengths‐based whole‐family approaches in the belief that this increases service engagement and effect. Despite this, knowledge that delivering services using such approaches can be challenging and calls for the identification and exploration of methods likely to promote and sustain their use. Restorative approach is an ethos and method centred on building and sustaining positive relationships, which is increasingly being adopted in family and children's services in the United Kingdom. Despite this, the scarcity of research conducted in this area as yet, means little is known of its use and effect in this context. This article draws on empirical data collected in a wider study exploring the efficacy of different family service delivery models to describe the use of restorative approach in family service provision and determine whether its adoption promotes sustained use of strengths and relationship‐based whole‐family approaches when working with families. Furthermore, it explores whether the process incorporates wider evidence‐based methods of change.     

Infants’ Response to Pictures of Impossible Objects

Previous work has shown that 4‐month‐olds can discriminate between two‐dimensional (2D) depictions of structurally possible and impossible objects [S. M. Shuwairi (2009), Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 104, 115; S. M. Shuwairi, M. K. Albert, & S. P. Johnson (2007), Psychological Science, 18, 303]. Here, we asked whether evidence of discrimination of possible and impossible pictures would also be revealed in infants’ patterns of reaching and manual exploration. Nine‐month‐old infants were presented with realistic photograph displays of structurally possible and impossible cubes along with a series of perceptual controls, and engaged in more frequent manual exploration of pictures of impossible objects. In addition, the impossible cube display elicited significantly more social referencing and vocalizations than the possible cube and perceptual control displays. The increased manual gestures associated with the incoherent figure suggest that perceptual and manual action mechanisms are interrelated in early development. The infant’s visual system extracts structural information contained in 2D images in analyzing the projected 3D configuration, and this information serves to control both the oculomotor and manual action systems.