Survival through the Allais paradox

This paper investigates the allegation that behavior such as the Allais Paradox reduces the probability of survival. Examples are demonstrated where maximizing probability of survival in two choice situations imply a set of choices that add up to the Allais Paradox.     

Helping families when child sexual abuse is suspected but not proven

This paper reports from a project investigating reactions within families when intra‐familial child sexual abuse was suspected, and family members’ responses to a therapeutic approach. Data were obtained from therapeutic sessions and follow‐up interviews with mothers, children and alleged perpetrators. Before treatment the mothers felt uncertain as to how to interpret the children’s unclear signs. The children had severe symptoms, but had seldom disclosed abuse. The alleged perpetrators were often not informed about the suspicions. The families were in a state of crisis and shock, and communication within the family was characterized by uncertainty about what to talk about and whether the suspicions should be shared. In most cases after treatment the conflicts had been reduced, the children had few symptoms, supervised contact had been established, and the clients were satisfied with the treatment. One conclusion is that therapeutic sessions, where family members share information about concerns and take part in the decisions of how to protect children, seem relevant and helpful to the clients in unclear abuse cases.     

Non-Gaussian Ornstein–Uhlenbeck-based models and some of their uses in financial economics

Non-Gaussian processes of Ornstein–Uhlenbeck (OU) type offer the possibility of capturing important distributional deviations from Gaussianity and for flexible modelling of dependence structures. This paper develops this potential, drawing on and extending powerful results from probability theory for applications in statistical analysis. Their power is illustrated by a sustained application of OU processes within the context of finance and econometrics. We construct continuous time stochastic volatility models for financial assets where the volatility processes are superpositions of positive OU processes, and we study these models in relation to financial data and theory.     

Educated Immigrant Women Workers Doing Well With Change: Helping and Hindering Factors

The authors investigated the strategies that helped or hindered 10 immigrant women workers to do well with change that affected their work. A total of 182 incidents were extracted and grouped into 9 categories: personal beliefs/traits/ values, taking action, skills/education, personal challenges, self‐care, relationships/ support, government/community resources, work environment, and contextual challenges. Results support and extend contentions that both internal/personal and external factors are key successful adaptation to change for immigrant women. Implications for research and practice are discussed. Counseling recommendations are offered for individuals who are struggling with change.     

An Analysis of Verbal Stimulus Control in Intraverbal Behavior: Implications for Practice and Applied Research

A common characteristic of the language deficits experienced by children with autism (and other developmental disorders) is their failure to acquire a complex intraverbal repertoire. The difficulties with learning intraverbal behaviors may, in part, be related to the fact that the stimulus control for such behaviors usually involves highly complex verbal stimuli. The antecedent verbal control of intraverbal behavior may involve discriminative stimuli (i.e., discriminated operants), conditional stimulus control, and/or control by compound stimuli. Distinctions among these different types of antecedent control are presented, along with recommendations for intervention procedures that may facilitate the acquisition of intraverbal behavior.     

Temporal stability of entries and predictors for entry into out-of-home care before the third birthday: A Danish population-based study of entries from 1981 to 2008

Objective

Placing a child in out-of-home care is one of the most radical measures a child protection system can decide to take. There is an essential interest in understanding the probability of entering care and what circumstances are related to the decision to place a child in out-of-home care. This study investigates the temporal stability of rates and predictors for entry into care.

Method

Data were obtained by linking several registration systems. The study population was defined as all children entering care before their third birthday from birth cohorts 1981–2008 (N = 11,034). Furthermore, a control population consisting of a randomly assigned quarter of the Danish child population from the same birth cohorts was used (N = 515,773). Rates of entry and Cox regression models from six periods from 1981 to 2008 were used to model co-variates associated with entry into out-of-home care.

Results

The overall likelihood for entering care is found to be decreasing over time. Furthermore, results reveal two trends: relative rates of entry are significantly decreasing for children whose mother has a psychiatric history prior to the child's birth; relative rates are significantly increasing for children whose mother or father was unemployed in the year prior to the child's birth.     

‘Meeting Face to Face Creates New Insights’: Recruiting Persons with User Experiences as Students in an Educational Programme in Social Work

Even though empowerment and involvement of users have, for a long time, been important goals for educational programmes in social work, these programmes have only to a very little extent availed themselves of the resources that people with user experiences have to offer. This article will present a course that is part of the bachelor programmes in social work and social education at Lillehammer University College in Norway. Persons with user experiences were recruited and took part in a course on equal terms with the bachelor students. Four lecturers from the college, including the author as the project leader, carried out the planning and implementation of the course. The article gives an account of the experiences gained from the course as expressed by the students.     

Developing Partnerships to Meet Clients' Needs in Changing Government Organizations: A Consultative Process

The article outlines the development of partnerships across 3 employment‐related government ministries, in a context of organizational restructuring and downsizing. The article describes a consultation process conducted with workers from 2 provincial ministries and 1 federal government ministry regarding effective collaboration to assess unemployed clients' employability needs. In individual and focus group meetings, the workers developed a process that involved the cooperation and involvement of those from all 3 ministries in offering and monitoring the effectiveness of a needs assessment program.