The probability generating function of empty cell variable in a randomized occupancy problem

Let M_o denote the number of empty cells when n distinguishable balls are distributed independently and at random in ra cells such that each ball stays with probability p in its cell, and falls through with probability 1-p. We find the probability generating function of M_o by solving a partial differential equation satisfied by a suitable generating function. The corresponding function for the classical case p = 1 is well-known, but obtained by different methods.     

A Survey of Online Practitioners: Implications for Education and Practice

In the last decade the helping professions have seen a growing interest in the provision of online counseling and therapeutic services for individuals. Like most fields of work, social work also has experienced a growth in the creative use of technology in various areas of professional work. Based on this growing interest and the need for such services and research on its efficacy, a study was conducted to learn from e-therapists across the United States on their experiences with this mode of service delivery. This paper elicits results from the online survey and provides recommendations to better serve our clients in the tech savvy world and future research endeavors. The main findings of this preliminary study include: (a) Many theoretical perspectives and models are being used to ground online practice, (b) e-therapists are beginning to use videoconferencing for online practice supplementing their face-to-face sessions, and (c) e-therapists believe that online interventions benefit their clients.     

Threshold Incentives and Sales Variance

In this paper, we analyze the impact of two forms of commonly used threshold‐based incentive schemes on the observed sales variability. The first form of the incentive comprises an additional marginal payment on crossing a specified sales threshold and the second form of the incentive scheme comprises a lumpsum bonus payment on crossing the predetermined sales threshold. We model the effect of such incentives under two specific scenarios: an exclusive dealership selling a single product and a non‐exclusive dealer selling two competing products. For an exclusive dealer, we show that a bonus contract not only increases the expected sales, but, more importantly, decreases the sales (order) variance. Consequently, the bonus‐based scheme allows the manufacturer to regulate sales variance better. With a non‐exclusive dealer, the sales variance increases substantially with an additional marginal payment contract. However, our analysis suggests that the bonus contract continues to perform better in this case, too, if the threshold level is set appropriately using the underlying demand distribution.     

Community Practice Researchers as Reflective Learners

The article outlines a process for community practice researchas a reflective process. Through the interplay of key conceptsassociated with subjective research–personal engagement,experiential affinity and parallel struggles–and transcribedinterviews with community practitioners, the authors elaboratethe subjective community researcher posture. Subjectivity contributesto the researchers’ position as learners within the researchprocess. The research team plays a key role in reflecting onthe effects of the research on participants.     

Uncovering a politics of livelihoods: analysing displacement and contention in contemporary India

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we use livelihoods as an organizing concept which brings together questions of production, social reproduction, and the conditions for these, to describe and reflect upon three ‘moments’ of displacement and contention in India. Our first moment, a massive flash strike by workers in the export garments industry in Bangalore, is located in the present neo-liberal context of jobless growth, increasingly unregulated and precarious forms of employment, and market-based forms of service provision. Our second moment concerns popular struggles in defence of the commons in settled rural fishing communities in south India, and the third, the tenacious efforts of pavement dwellers in Bombay to make place, the political condition for production and social reproduction. The originary context for these last two moments was the state-led, technology-driven, capitalist modernization of agriculture and fisheries of the early post-‘independence’ decades, tied to projects of state-building, self-reliance, and sovereignty. The three moments chart the long history of processes of precarization under postcolonial capitalism but, equally, a constant politics of livelihood, grounded in claims to rights earned through labour, and addressing itself to both state and capital as complicit in structuring access to livelihoods under capitalism.     

Cyber Security Risk Management: Public Policy Implications of Correlated Risk,Imperfect Ability to Prove Loss,and Observability of Self‐Protection

The correlated nature of security breach risks, the imperfect ability to prove loss from a breach to an insurer, and the inability of insurers and external agents to observe firms’ self‐protection efforts have posed significant challenges to cyber security risk management. Our analysis finds that a firm invests less than the social optimal levels in self‐protection and in insurance when risks are correlated and the ability to prove loss is imperfect. We find that the appropriate social intervention policy to induce a firm to invest at socially optimal levels depends on whether insurers can verify a firm's self‐protection levels. If self‐protection of a firm is observable to an insurer so that it can design a contract that is contingent on the self‐protection level, then self‐protection and insurance behave as complements. In this case, a social planner can induce a firm to choose the socially optimal self‐protection and insurance levels by offering a subsidy on self‐protection. We also find that providing a subsidy on insurance does not provide a similar inducement to a firm. If self‐protection of a firm is not observable to an insurer, then self‐protection and insurance behave as substitutes. In this case, a social planner should tax the insurance premium to achieve socially optimal results. The results of our analysis hold regardless of whether the insurance market is perfectly competitive or not, implying that solely reforming the currently imperfect insurance market is insufficient to achieve the efficient outcome in cyber security risk management.     

Optimal designing of quick switching sampling system assuring percentile life under Weibull distribution

In this paper, designing methodology of quick switching sampling system under Weibull distribution for assuring product lifetime percentile is proposed. An optimization problem is formulated for determining the optimal parameters of the proposed system using two points on the operating characteristic curve approach. The operating procedure and designing methodology of the proposed system are discussed. A comparative study between the proposed system and other existing plans is accomplished in terms of average sample number and the operating characteristic curve is provided for analyzing the behavior of proposed system. In addition, the effect of mis-specification of shape parameter on the proposed sampling system is discussed.     

The relationship between organizational factors and resident satisfaction with nursing home care and life

We examined the relationships between nursing home (NH) resident satisfaction and NH organizational characteristics, while controlling for the effect of resident characteristics within facilities. We used a stratified, random sample of NHs (N = 72) from two states and a prescreened and randomized sample of 1496 residents. Data sources included resident interviews, an administrator survey, the Minimum Data Set (MDS), and the Online Survey, Certification and Reporting System (OSCAR). Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) techniques, we found that non-chain affiliation, certified nursing assistant staffing, and provision of a family council had significant positive effects on total resident satisfaction. The presence of a special care unit was associated with lower levels of satisfaction.     

Desistance-Focused Treatment and Asset-Based Programming for Juvenile Offender Reintegration: A Review of Research Evidence

Research indicates that juvenile delinquency, if not intervened earlier, could potentially lead to the youth’s future involvement with the criminal justice system as an adult. This study identifies research evidence to support the building of a desistance-focused pathway for juvenile offenders positively reentering society. It examines the “desistance” components of treatment programs and assets that help ex-offending adolescents achieve success in reintegrating back to the community. A review of research evidence summarized the empirical data from twelve studies published between 2007 and 2017. Diverse service components were found in addressing the treatment needs of young offenders, indicating that multiple services are needed to lower their recidivism rate. These diverse components were benchmarked with the 40-asset model developed by the Search Institute, providing additional support that these service components are resilience-based and desistance-focused. Both internal and external assets were emphasized in these reviewed studies. Highlighted are the holistic nature of asset-based programs and service components for helping juveniles gain internal awareness and access external resources. A balanced treatment model is recommended with an emphasis on building assets for designing a holistic plan of reintegration to help juveniles reenter society and stay crime-free.     

A Method of Assembling Cross-sectional Indicators into a Community Quality of Life

This study develops a new method of measuring quality of life at the local and state level. Further, it presents a methodology that combines heterogeneous indicators from different fields, such as economics, social, and health, into one total measurement. The technique shown can be used to compare one region with another, or compare one metro area with its own performance through time. The analysis shows which categories and indicators are ranked as the highest and serves as a measurement of economic development and potential targets for marketing plans. Every analyst interested in an aggregate, community measurement tool should be interested in the procedure and results.