Automatic polynomial wavelet regression

In Oh, Naveau and Lee (2001) a simple method is proposed for reducing the bias at the boundaries for wavelet thresholding regression. The idea is to model the regression function as a sum of wavelet basis functions and a low-order polynomial. The latter is expected to account for the boundary problem. Practical implementation of this method requires the choice of the order of the low-order polynomial, as well as the wavelet thresholding value. This paper proposes two automatic methods for making such choices. Finite sample performances of these two methods are evaluated via numerical experiments.     

Further Validation and Extension of the Quality-of-Life/Community-Healthcare Model and Measures

This paper extends and further validates thequality-of-life/community-healthcare model andmeasures developed by Rahtz and Sirgy (2000).The quality of life (QOL) model is based on thetheoretical notion that community residents'satisfaction with healthcare services available withintheir community affects community quality oflife and life satisfaction. This study extends themodel and, in keeping with past research,posits that the bottom-up spillover from communityQOL to life satisfaction is greater for thoseindividuals with low personal health satisfaction,lower income, and old age. Data were collectedfrom 1094 community residents in the East-Coast area of the United States. The resultsprovide good support of the new model.Managerial implications and applications forthe new model are discussed.     

Developing a community-based care system for seriously emotionally disabled children and youth

The needs of emotionally disabled children and their families are not optimally served within traditional mental health service delivery systems. Policies are inadequate, delivery systems are insufficient and underfunded, and supporting research is sparse. As communities begin addressing the needs of the seriously emotionally disabled child and family, planning should address community coordinated services. Such systems, however, are not easily established and maintained in communities accustomed to addressing children's needs in terms of existing fragmented categorical structures. National models exist but care and time are required to adapt critical elements from these models to local need. This article will review the rationale for integrated community-based, case management services for children and adolescents. A case example is offered illustrating issues affecting the development of one community support system.     

Ethnic and gender differences in parental expectations and life stress

This paper presents ethnic and gender differences in reported stressful life events (SLE) in a sample of 70 Southeast Asian (SEA) adolescents. The ranking of five SLEs with the highest percentage reportingSome orA Lot of stress showed differences in qualitative life events among Cambodian, Hmong, and Vietnamese adolescents. Cambodians rankedstrict discipline in social life by parents as most stressful. Hmong and Vietnamese adolescents reporteddoing house chores andacademic pressure to do well, respectively, as most stressful. In other stressor domains, academic performance (i.e.studying for a test, personal pressure to get good grades) and parental expectations (i.e.high expectations from parents to do well, fear of failure to meet family expectations) show similarity across ethnic groups. T-tests show that female adolescents reported higher stress on eight out of 10 life events females than males.Personal pressure to get good grades had the highest percentage mean for females. For males,worrying about where to live or getting a job after graduation were the two most endorsed stressful life events. Important implications for social work practice in schools and with parents in SEA families are discussed. Further research into parental involvement and family distress is also recommended.     

A PLACE TO CALL HOME: Identification With Dwelling, Community, and Region

The concept of place identity has been the subject of a number of empirical studies in a variety of disciplines, but there have been relatively few attempts to integrate this literature into a more general theory of identity and environment. Such endeavors have been limited by a lack of studies that simultaneously examine identification with places of different scale. This article addresses this critical omission by analyzing how residents of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, develop a sense of home with respect to dwelling, community, and region. Our results suggest that different social and environmental factors discriminate identification across place loci: specifically, that demographic qualities of residents and interpretive residential affiliations are critical to dwelling identity; that social participation in the local community is essential for community identity; and that patterns of intercommunity spatial activity promote a regional identity. Such understandings, we propose, are important to constructing an integrated theory of place identity, one sensitive to the complex ways the self is situated in the social-spatial environment.     

Treatment of an acting-out adolescent girl: An interpersonal experience

The current emphasis on psychotherapy as an interpersonal or intersubjective experience is highly relevant to clinical work with adolescents. This paper presentes and discusses the treatment of an acting out adolescent girl from the perspective of the two-person relationship, emphasizing the interaction between the patient's dynamics and the therapist's responses.     

Union Formation and Depression: Selection and Relationship Effects

Many studies have established that married people fare better than their never‐married counterparts in terms of psychological well‐being. It is still unclear, however, whether this advantage is due primarily to beneficial effects of marriage or to the selection of psychologically healthier individuals into marriage. This study employs data on young adults from both waves of the National Survey of Families and Households to test hypotheses based on both selection (N= 878) and relationship (N= 722) effects. Further, we differentiate union formation into cohabitation and marriage with and without prior cohabitation. Results indicate no evidence of selection of less depressed persons into either marriage or cohabitation, but a negative effect of entry into marriage on depression, particularly when marriage was not preceded by cohabitation.     

An integrated approach for manpower planning in the service sector

The manpower planning problem receives considerable attention by the management of service organizations because they are typically labor intensive. Not only must optimal staff sizes be determined over an extended horizon, but optimal staff schedules which assign labor to tours of duty and specific tasks, given the available staff size, must also be found. Adding to the complexity arising from the interrelatedness of the staff-sizing and staff-scheduling problems is the existence of the conflicting multiple objectives of minimizing costs and maximizing customer service. The few methodologies reported in the literature which treat the complete manpower planning problem as stated above have several shortcomings. Some techniques place a severe strain on computational capabilities. Also, these methods confound the specification of the goal levels with the analysis of the relative goal weightings. Often the specification of the desired goal levels is made at a different level in the organizational hierarchy than the specification of the relative importance of the various goals. This paper suggests an approach which overcomes these shortcomings. The methodology utilizes a simulation model with an imbedded heuristic procedure for the staff-scheduling problem to identify realistic aggregate staff-size goals to be used in a multiple-objective staff-sizing model. The methodology is applied to the manpower planning problem of a large sectional center post office and the managerial benefits are discussed.