Estimation of long-term trends and variation in avian survival probabilities using random effects models

We obtained banding and recovery data from the Bird Banding Laboratory (operated by the Biological Resources Division of the US Geological Survey) for adults from 129 avian species that had been continuously banded for > 24 years. Data were partitioned by gender, banding period (winter versus summer), and by states/provinces. Data sets were initially screened for adequacy based on specific criteria (e.g. minimum sample sizes). Fifty-nine data sets (11 waterfowl species, the Mourning Dove and Common Grackle) met our criteria of adequacy for further analysis. We estimated annual survival probabilities using the Brownie et al. recovery model {St, ft} in program MARK. Trends in annual survival and temporal process variation were estimated using random effects models based on shrinkage estimators. Waterfowl species had relatively little variation in annual survival probabilities (mean CV = 8.7% and 10% for males and females, respectively). The limited data for other species suggested similar low temporal variation for males, but higher temporal variation for females (CV = 40%). Evidence for long-term trends varied by species, banding period and sex, with no obvious spatial patterns for either positive or negative trends in survival probabilities. An exception was Mourning Doves banded in Illinois/Missouri and Arizona/New Mexico where both males (slope = -0.0122, se = 0.0019 and females (slope = -0.0109 to -0.0128, se = 0.0018 -0.0032) exhibited declining trends in survival probabilities. We believe our approach has application for large-scale monitoring. However, meaningful banding and recovery data for species other than waterfowl is very limited in North America.     

Frank Parsons's Enablers: Pauline Agassiz Shaw,Meyer Bloomfield,and Ralph Albertson

Frank Parsons was not the 1st American to recognize or address the need for vocational guidance. Why he, rather than his predecessors, is credited with initiating the field can be attributed to the largely overlooked contributions of 3 other persons: Pauline Agassiz Shaw, Meyer Bloomfield, and Ralph Albertson. The author calls attention to the contributions of these 3 remarkable individuals, and several others who supported them, in enabling and perpetuating Parsons's work.     

The Relationship of Attachment Variables to Career Decision‐Making Self‐Efficacy and Fear of Commitment

The present study indicated that both attachment bonds and self‐rated attachment style were significantly related to fear of commitment and, to a lesser extent, career decision‐making self‐efficacy. Given previous research showing that fear of commitment is related to career indecisiveness and “floundering,” the possible importance of attention to attachment bonds and styles in career counseling is suggested.     

Fieldwork in forbidden terrain: the state,privatization and human subjects regulations

In this paper we explore the intersection of the modern-state and fieldwork practices within the social sciences. Our contention is that during the past decade or so there has been an expansion in forbidden or restricted research terrain that threatens the present and future conduct of social research. We argue that this restriction has been engendered by two related developments: privatization and human subjects regulations. The social and political implications of these trends are considered. Her most recent books areMadwives: Schizophrenic Women in the 1950s (Rutgers University Press, 1987) andGender Issues in Field Research (Sage, 1988). He is the author ofCastles of Our Conscience: Social Control and the American State, 1800–1985 (Forthcoming, Polity Press, Cambridge, U.K.)     

An historical view of right to treatment

The patient's right to treatment is a clear mandate from the Supreme Court that the providers of mental health care must provide treatment. Important Supreme Court decisions have influenced the way in which professional nurses determine what constitutes adequate treatment on an individualized basis. Individualized treatment planning is rooted in meeting legal, regulatory, and funding requirements. The professional nurse is in a unique position to assess the patient's needs and to plan with others how those needs can best be met. Paraprofessional staff may implement those parts of the plan that do not require the direct intervention of the professional nurse. The technicians provide the daily care under the supervision and direction of the professional nurse. However, it is the professional psychiatric nurse who plays a critical role in providing active psychiatric treatment, who determines the nursing component of the treatment plan on an individualized basis, and who monitors the patient's environment, thus safe-guarding the legal rights of the mentally ill.     

A Political Critique of Kantian Ethics in Social Work

Correspondence to Stephen A. Webb, Department of Social Work, University of Dundee, DD1 4HN. Summary This paper addresses the Kantian theory of the subject whichis found in contemporary social work discourse on ethics andvalues. It is argued here that the Kantian idea of persons as(i) rational, (ii) autonomous, and (iii) ends-in-themselvesis wholly inadequate to the social work doctrine of ‘respectfor persons’. To show this, we counterpose a Foucauldianview of history, moral codes and theory of the person, and themeaning this can have in the social worker-client relation.This alternative reading claims that social work is essentiallya political practice which is constructed by various discursiveand institutional strategies of power. Therefore, it is suggestedthat social work needs a political reading of its own discourse.To this end we outline a Foucauldian micro-political analysisof the social work ‘subject’ or person as a pointwithin a field of discursive-knowledge based strategies.     

A comprehensive program for pregnant adolescents: parenting and prevention

Beginning in 1981 as an effort to reduce mortality rates of at-risk infants, the Teen Pregnancy Project of this agency has grown steadily into a multiservice program with many approaches, yet all services for its help-resistant population depend upon an outreach, home-visiting initiative to establish useful relationships with its clients.