Non-marital living arrangements--alternatives to marriage? An international data review]

A review of the recent literature on consensual unions and cohabitation is presented. Separate sections are included on the literature concerning countries other than Germany and on the German literature. An explanatory approach to this phenomenon is outlined.     

Mingling decision making metaphors

Organizational decisions provide conceptual playing fields wherein scientists adhering to rival theories based on different metaphors skirmish in-decisively. Organizational decisions, however, are also empirical arenas wherein practitioners espousing discordant theories-in-use reconcile their differences pragmatically. Practitioners' decision-making metaphors encountered while studying capital budgeting suggest how disjoint perspectives are assimilated and shifts from instrumental to symbolic actions are triggered. Implications for decision theories are discussed, and potential benefits of incorporating practitioners' knowledge into organizational science are considered.     

On the mishandling of ‘anger’ in psychotherapy

There has been a widespread notion among social workers that a major purpose of intensive clinical work is to help people acknowledge and ventilate hostile feelings. This paper challenges this idea by elucidating the specific problems and potential harm of interventions which indiscriminately emphasize anger.     

Adolescent attitudes and beliefs about sexual behavior

Four hundred and fifty-one teenagers responded to a sexual attitude survey. Results focus on attitudes and values related to sexual activity and to parental and school involvement and responsibility for sex education. Findings are reported as they relate to six important sexual decisions: to have intercourse or not? to have children or not? to use contraceptives or not? to have an abortion or not? to give the baby up for adoption or not? and to marry or not? Lack of communication, feelings that parents were unaware of their teenagers' sexual behavior, and uncertainty and confusion about their sexual feelings also surfaced.     

The oedipus complex: A reminder of its clinical import

Although the oedipus complex is a critical developmental phase, its importance has become increasingly undrstated as our attention has shifted to earlier development. This paper explores what occurs in the oedipal phase, in both healthy and pathological environments, and attempts to show how oedipal conflicts may affect later development. A case example is used to highlight some aspects of the history and the dynamics of a young man who attempts to come to terms with problems related to oedipal struggles.     

Polynomially solvable cases of the constant rank unconstrained quadratic 0-1 programming problem

In this paper we consider the constant rank unconstrained quadratic 0-1 optimization problem, CR-QP01 for short. This problem consists in minimizing the quadratic function 〈x, Ax〉 + 〈c, x〉 over the set {0,1} ⁿ where c is a vector in ℝ ⁿ and A is a symmetric real n × n matrix of constant rank r. We first present a pseudo-polynomial algorithm for solving the problem CR-QP01, which is known to be NP-hard already for r = 1. We then derive two new classes of special cases of the CR-QP01 which can be solved in polynomial time. These classes result from further restrictions on the matrix A. Finally we compare our algorithm with the algorithm of Allemand et al. (2001) for the CR-QP01 with negative semidefinite A and extend the range of applicability of the latter algorithm. It turns out that neither of the two algorithms dominates the other with respect to the class of instances which can be solved in polynomial time.     

High Performance Work Practices and Firm Performance: A Longitudinal Case Study

Accumulating research suggests that the adoption of high performance work practices (HPWPs) is related to organizations' performance. The evidence base is limited by its reliance on retrospective survey reports. This study uses an intervention, including longitudinal interview and survey reports, of the implementation and outcomes of the introduction of HPWPs alongside time series data of objective performance metrics recorded before and after the intervention. The results showed that the implementation of HPWPs was associated with subsequent and sustained increases in productivity and safety performance. The study suggests that a specifically designed intervention involving HPWPs can have beneficial effects both on productivity and safety, but other intermediary variables associated with the implementation process may be critical in mitigating potentially detrimental worker welfare effects arising from work intensification.     

The Limits of ex post Implementation

The sensitivity of Bayesian implementation to agents' beliefs about others suggests the use of more robust notions of implementation such as ex post implementation, which requires that each agent's strategy be optimal for every possible realization of the types of other agents. We show that the only deterministic social choice functions that are ex post implementable in generic mechanism design frameworks with multidimensional signals, interdependent valuations, and transferable utilities are constant functions. In other words, deterministic ex post implementation requires that the same alternative must be chosen irrespective of agents' signals. The proof shows that ex post implementability of a nontrivial deterministic social choice function implies that certain rates of information substitution coincide for all agents. This condition amounts to a system of differential equations that are not satisfied by generic valuation functions.     

Why nonprofit organizations are ripe for total quality management

This article reviews the core philosophy of Total Quality Management (TQM) and argues that TQM can enhance the accountability of nonprofit organizations to their many constituencies. A case study of TQM in the United Way of Allegheny County illustrates applications and results.     

Pathological gambling and criminal culpability: An analysis of forensic evaluations presented to German penal courts

In Germany penal courts and expert witnesses are being confronted with an increasing number of offenders claiming that their criminal behavior had been caused by an irresistible urge to gamble. In 48 of 56 evaluated cases the defendants were diagnosed as pathological gamblers. However, diminished culpability (§ 21 German Criminal Code) was granted in only 32 cases. In these cases the illegal activity to get money could be classified as primarily gambling related.This Article is a revised version of a paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Gambling & Risk-Taking, Las Vegas, Nevada. May 31st–June 3rd, 1994.