Addressing the Dependency Problem in Access Security System Architecture Design

The objective of this research is to present a method for evaluating the performance of access control security systems, such as airport security operations. This requires the examination of security system architectures, which involve security technology devices and the algorithms that coordinate their operations. Dependence between device responses in multiple-device systems is a critical practical issue in assessing the performance of such architectures, though no results on this problem have appeared in the literature. This paper presents a method for evaluating when multipledevice security systems with overlapping capabilities are cost-effective. This is achieved using a dependency structure for security system devices to quantify how various technologies interact and to measure the impact of device dependence on system error probabilities. A measure of device response dependence for a two-device system is defined and its properties are explored, including bounds on the dependency measure. The effect of dependence on the system Type I and Type II error probabilities is examined for the two-device system. System performance is compared for independent vs. dependent device responses and desirable dependence relationships are identified. Results are also presented for a cascading sequence of devices. An example is presented to illustrate the results for the two-device system. Implications of these results are discussed, such as how they can be used to identify the optimal use of security devices and to determine whether new technologies warrant investment.     

A REVIEW AND EVALUATION OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPIES FOR AFFECTIVE DISORDERS

Although the efficacy of individual treatments of affective disorders has been well-documented, there are also significant limitations to existing treatments. In the last decade attention has focused increasingley on the interpersonal context of affective illness, and on marital and family relationships in particular. As a result, a number of approaches have been developed which directly involve family members in treatment. In this article we evaluate the current status of marital and family therapies for affective illness. We begin with a discussion of several lines of research bearing on the relationships between family processes and affective illness. The available treatment outcome data evaluating the efficacy of marital and family interventions are then reviewed, with particular attention paid to predictors of treatment success and cost efficacy issues. Finally, we suggest several priorities for future research.     

The Janus-faced court of naturalisation: marriage and kinship in naturalisation litigation in South Korea

Migration scholars have noted the growing role of the courts in expanding migrants’ rights. Drawing from naturalisation litigation in South Korea for case studies, this article investigates the role of the court in determining national membership. Three main findings are presented based upon an analysis of 105 marriage-based and 36 kinship-based litigations filed against the Ministry of Justice in the Seoul Administrative Court. First, the Court adopts a more liberal interpretation of ‘true intention to marry’ than the Ministry, granting citizenship to those who convincingly perform their roles as dutiful wives. Second, the Court plays a more active role in kinship-based than marriage-based naturalisation, challenging the Ministry's too-narrow interpretation of the requirements. Overall, however, the Court shows strong judicial deference to the Ministry and plays a passive role in advocating for the rights of migrants. The Korean case highlights the need to revisit the tendency to view immigration and citizenship as special classes of public laws, over which administrative and legislative bodies of a government can exercise a significant degree of discretion. As citizenship is becoming an important dimension of social stratification, the judicial branch should serve as a check on the executive branch in issuing visas and granting citizenship.     

Newspaper Coverage of People with Disabilities in Canada and Israel: an international comparison

In this research study we compared how three Canadian and three Israeli newspapers wrote about people with disabilities over a 3-month period. The comparison included structural variables, such as the length of the articles, where they appeared, whether photographs were used, etc. We also examined content variables, such as who the main character was, the details used to describe this individual or group, and what governmental agencies, service providers and problems were mentioned. Finally, we looked at whether the article was progressive, traditional or mixed in its perspective. Our findings showed a number of significant differences between Canada and Israel. Equally noteworthy, however, were the considerable similarities, such as frequent problems with finances and services, and most of the articles being traditional in focus. The paper concludes with an analysis of the newspaper business and the implications of this for altering the image of disabled people in the media.     

Life politics,nature and the state: Giddens' sociological theory and The Politics of Climate Change

Anthony Giddens' The Politics of Climate Change represents a significant shift in the way in which he addresses ecological politics. In this book, he rejects the relevance of environmentalism and demarcates climate‐change policy from life politics. Giddens addresses climate change in the technocratic mode of simple rather than reflexive modernization. However, Giddens' earlier sociological theory provides the basis for a more reflexive understanding of climate change. Climate change instantiates how, in high modernity, the existential contradiction of the human relationship with nature returns in new form, expressed in life politics and entangled with the structural contradictions of the capitalist state. The interlinking of existential and structural contradiction is manifested in the tension between life politics and the capitalist nation‐state. This tension is key for understanding the failures so far of policy responses to climate change.     

The Self Regulation Model of Attachment Trauma and Addiction

The self-regulation model (SRM) is introduced to inform the assessment and treatment of attachment trauma and addiction. By integrating Bowlby’s observations of attachment behaviors within a dialectical philosophy, addiction is seen as an attempt to regulate one’s attachment system in the service of adaptation. The SRM advances Bowlby’s observations by identifying the subsystems inherent to human self-regulation and adaptation: physiology, emotions, cognition, sense of self, interpersonal relatedness, and behavior. Evaluation of each subsystem provides a comprehensive self-regulation profile and a template for treatment. This is illustrated by the case of Dixie, a woman suffering from treatment resistant addiction.     

Use of visitors’ perception in urban reserves in the Buenos Aires metropolis

Urban nature reserves (UR’s) fulfill unique functions for society and are irreplaceable, satisfying human needs particularly in urban and periurban areas. The aim of this paper was to use a perception based approach to analyze whether the urban nature reserves in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires, Argentina were principally used by visitors according to their main conservation mission. Five hundred written surveys designed to evaluate users’ profile and their perceptions of the selected reserves were conducted during the summer of 2009 to visitors selected at random. Collected data was analyzed by multivariate analyses. The results discriminated two groups (1 and 2) of reserves showing that people chose to visit a nature reserve for two contrasting motivations: the contemplation of nature (group 1) or active recreation (group 2). Both groups of reserves, the respondents participated in environmental programs. All respondents knew about plants whereas knowledge of the fauna was related to the visitors’ level of education. In all reserves respondents considered that nature enhance the quality of human life in the first place, and valued biodiversity en second place. Visitors in group 1 considered nature as very important, while respondents in group 2 thought that is important as a place for having fun. Our findings can potentially assist administrators to understand better how visitors perceive the reserves.