Foster care placement breakdown in the Netherlands and Flanders: Prevalence,precursors, and associated factors

Family foster care is the option of choice for children in need of out‐of‐home care in Flanders and the Netherlands. Foster care is however a vulnerable intervention, and questions can be raised as to its efficacy. Although the literature on placement breakdown has made significant progress during the last years, empirical knowledge regarding breakdown in Flanders and the Netherlands remains scant. Consequently, this study aimed at investigating prevalence and precursors of breakdowns in long‐term foster care, the duration of placement before breakdown, and the association of child and placement characteristics with breakdown. Case files of 271 Dutch and 309 Flemish foster children were analysed with a coding scheme designed for this study. After 6 years, 398 placements had terminated: 169 placements broke down and 229 placements ended positively. Placements broke down mainly because of behavioural problems of the foster child, foster parents' parenting problems, and conflicts between birth and foster parents. Foster children with behavioural problems, older foster children, foster children denied treatment, and foster children in care because of sexual abuse were more at risk of breakdown. Assessing these factors is important when evaluating the appropriateness of a family foster care placement.     

Ruin problem of a two-dimensional fractional Brownian motion risk process

This paper investigates ruin probability and ruin time of a two-dimensional fractional Brownian motion risk process. The net loss process of an insurance company is modeled by a fractional Brownian motion. The two-dimensional fractional Brownian motion risk process models the surplus processes of an insurance and a reinsurance company, where the net loss is divided between them in some specified proportions. The ruin problem considered is that of the two-dimensional risk process first entering the negative quadrant, that is, the simultaneous ruin problem. We derive both asymptotics of the ruin probability and approximations of the scaled conditional ruin time as the initial capital tends to infinity.     

Periods and structural breaks in US economic history 1959-2007

Principal component analysis (PCA) is applied to six macroeconomic time series observed over 1959-2007. Six periods in US economic history are identified by a cluster analysis of observations in the PCA score plot. The method is data driven with no a priori information on the number or dates of breaks. Our findings give independent support to the effect of the oil price shock in 1973, and the introduction of the Great Moderation period. Of the five transition periods, two have been identified by previous studies as breaks (1973, 1984), one is a well-known date of monetary policy change (1979), and two had not previously been identified (1970, 1977-1978). In the long-run inflation and the federal funds rate are unrelated to industrial production and unemployment. Inflation and interest are positively associated as predicted by the Fisher hypothesis. These long-run relations argue against the use of monetary policy to peg the rate of unemployment or real interest rates. In the short-run inflation acts a leading indicator for unemployment for the period 1959-1997, but not for the period after 1997. The well-established reduction in macroeconomic volatility in the mid-1980s is specific to the period from 1985 to 1997; volatility subsequently rises above pre-1979 levels.     

环境损害责任与全球环境法的兴起

全球环境法是在全球化的背景下随着环境法律移植和创新的深入发展而得以产生和演进的,其中,全球环境损害责任制度堪为缩影和写照。在国内法层面,为了克服污染受害者起诉污染者承担损害赔偿责任的制度性障碍,一些国家采取了放宽因果关系证明要求和转移举证责任等多种因应措施。然而,在国际层面,对于针对美国跨国公司在国外的环境侵权行为的诉讼,美国法院往往以不方便美国法院原则、适用《外国人侵权法》在美国起诉须以被告违反国际法为条件、非居民外国人不具备审慎起诉资格等为由而拒不受理,致使环境受害者在美国的诉讼阻力重重。作为应对,发展中国家采取了一系列举措。其中,最典型的立法对策是,规定一旦案件在国外起诉,国内法院便自动丧失管辖权;在原告所在国起诉的,允许以被告所在国的法律来计算污染损害赔偿额,等等。因而,一国对外国原告提起的环境诉讼的接受和承认外国判决之互惠条件准则的出台,将变得越来越重要。今后跨国环境私人诉讼将不断推动全球环境损害责任制度的发展,而不断革新的全球环境损害责任制度也将成为全球环境法新格局中的重要组成部分。     

Situational leadership theory: A test of three versions

Three versions of the leadership dynamics derived from Hersey and Blanchard's Situational Leadership Theory were identified: (1) the original, 1972, statement of the theory; (2) the revised, 2007, theory; and (3) an alternative statement of the theory's essential principle of differential follower response to “autonomy afforded by the leader” in conjunction with “follower developmental level” (as indexed by employee job experience). Survey data collected from 357 banking employees and 80 supervisors, sampled from 10 Norwegian financial institutions, were analyzed for predicted interactions. Results indicated that the 2007 revised theory was a poorer predictor of subordinate performance and attitudes than the original version. The third, alternative, version (which predicted an autonomy × job experience interaction) offered promise for further exploration of the theory's essential principle that employee outcomes are associated with prescribed leader behaviors in combination with follower developmental level, although this version also did not add substantially to accounting for criterion variance.     

Screening for Alcohol Problems Among 4-Year Colleges and Universities

Abstract

Objective: To assess the use of alcohol screening tools across US colleges. Participants: Directors of health services at 333 four-year colleges. Methods: An online survey was conducted regarding the use of alcohol screening tools. Schools reporting use of formal tools were further described in terms of 4 tools (AUDIT, CUGE, CAPS, and RAPS) that the authors judged to be the most favorable based on prior empirical comparative studies. Results: Forty-four percent of colleges reported use of at least 1 formal alcohol screening tool and nearly all of these used a tool appropriate for college students. However, less than half of the 44% of colleges that used a screening tool used 1 of the 4 most favorable tools. Conclusions: Continued efforts are needed to encourage colleges to use the most effective available screening tools to identify alcohol-related problems that require intervention among students.