A Preliminary Investigation of a Telephone Administration of the Quality of Marriage Index

Follow‐up data collection presents many challenges for longitudinal research. Validating paper‐and‐pencil assessments for use via telephone may alleviate these issues. This study evaluates psychometric properties of the Quality of Marriage Index (QMI; Norton, 1983, Journal of Marriage and the Family, 45, 141) when administered by telephone and compares scores with the paper‐and‐pencil version. Participants included women with major depressive disorder and dyadic discord and their male spouses (n = 24 couples). Results suggest excellent scale reliability for the verbal QMI. However, a significant mean difference was found: participants scored on average 3 points higher on the telephone‐administered QMI than on the written QMI. Recommendations for future research and clinical implications are discussed.     

Maximum likelihood estimation for the generalized poisson distribution

The generalized Poisson distribution;containing two

parameters and studied by many researchers; describes the distribution of busy periods under a queueing system and has very interesting properties; The probabilities for successive classes depend upon the previous occurrences; The problem of admissible maximum likelihood estimators for for the parameters Is discussed and a necessary and sufficient condition is derived for which unique admissible maximum likelihood estimators exist; The first; order terms in the biases; variances and the covariance of these maximum likelihood estimators are obtained.     

Managing green productivity: Some strategic directions

The twentieth century has been the hallmark for managing total productivity, where the emphasis is towards maximization of outputs commensurate with the consumption of inputs. This is being challenged now to evolve the world class manufacturing strategy requiring a paradigm shift. This shift is towards green productivity, which looks forward to socially appropriate production and consumption aiming at value innovation and resource conservation. This paper is an attempt to outline the concepts and experiential learning about green productivity.     

Books Received

In addition to acting as teachers, social work educators can play many other roles in relation to their students—including sexual partner, friend, therapist, or employer. Combining the role of instructor with one of these other roles may lead to ethical violations and dilemmas. This article urges educators to consider their power differential and the potential for harm to their students before entering a dual relationship. It reviews the NASW Code of Ethics and relevant literature about dual relationships in practice and in academia; discusses examples of dual relationships in social work education; and formulates questions for educators to use in assessing ethical practice.     

A further note on a theorem on the difference of the generalized inverses of two nonnegative definite matrices

Andrews and Phillips (1986) gave a simplified proof for the result that established the nonnegative definiteness of the difference of the Moore-Penrose inverses of two nonoegative definite matrices, a result originally due to Milliken and Akdeniz (1977), The purpose of this paper is to offer a simple proof for a generalization of this result,     

TMR: An Automated System for Managing Revenue

Abstract

The Total Medical Record (TMR) system used by the Division of University Health Services at Duke University is an integrated medical and management information system. One module supports the financial needs of the division. To facilitate managerial performance, TMR automatically prints insurance claims, refund statements, revenue summary data, service utilization, itemized visit statements, monthly patient bills, dunning letters, and has a host of unique features that aid management with controlling the private fees generated by the University Health Services. In addition, the servicing of prepaid programs is accommodated, and the splitting of charges between prepaid and fee-for-service programs occurs automatically.     

An industrial application for total productivity optimization

Abstract. This paper presents four strategies for total productivity optimization of a real-life manufacturing company. These strategies are developed to attain overall growth, cost reduction, upgrading of technical efficiency and management effectiveness. Such strategies have been modelled mathematically by using a nonlinear mathematical programming approach. The model base and the data base used in implementing the strategies can serve as decision support to management for optimizing total productivity.