Relationship of perceived future opportunity to depressive symptomatology of inner-city African-American adolescents

This study investigated the relationship of perceived future opportunities to level of depressive symptomatology in a sample of 173 adolescents attending inner city non-public schools in a large city in the northeastern region of the United States. Standard multiple regression analysis revealed that lower perceived future opportunity for both females (MR = .37, R²= .13, Beta =−.29) and males (MR = .39, R² = .15, Beta = −.41) were significantly associated with higher levels of depressive symptomatology. Secondary findings showed 46% of African-American students were in the at-risk category for depression and almost a third of students (30%) reported lower levels of perceived future opportunities. Future longitudinal studies are suggested to examine the temporal and casual relationships of perceived future opportunities to depression. Implications for social work policy and practice to improve future opportunities for disadvantaged African-American youth are discussed.     

Implications of Sociopolitical Context for Career Services Delivery

This article analyzes the implications of sociopolitical context for career services delivery. Beginning with a reflection on the social foundations of the practice of career counseling, 4 specific Portuguese conditions are presented and discussed in light of existing knowledge in the field. The 4 underlying issues presented are (a) the impact of political changes on career services delivery, (b) the rigidity vs. flexibility of the educational system, (c) political and psychological perspectives on employment, and (d) the relationship between power and career services delivery. A research agenda founded in political anthropology is proposed that may enhance future career services delivery.     

Emerging themes in distance learning research and practice: some food for thought

With the rapid spread of distance learning as a medium for delivering instruction, the practice of distance learning has outpaced research. This paper describes major themes identified in a review of selected research papers published in the past five years. Themes include the following: definitions of distance learning and why it should be studied; identification of the major learning theories on which research is based; how collaboration can be achieved via distance learning; the role that learner characteristics play in the success of distance learning systems, and issues related to measuring the effectiveness of distance learning. The authors conclude that more research is needed to identify critical success factors for distance learning.     

An exact algorithm for the maximum probabilistic clique problem

The maximum clique problem is a classical problem in combinatorial optimization that has a broad range of applications in graph-based data mining, social and biological network analysis and a variety of other fields. This article investigates the problem when the edges fail independently with known probabilities. This leads to the maximum probabilistic clique problem, which is to find a subset of vertices of maximum cardinality that forms a clique with probability at least \(\theta \in [0,1]\) , which is a user-specified probability threshold. We show that the probabilistic clique property is hereditary and extend a well-known exact combinatorial algorithm for the maximum clique problem to a sampling-free exact algorithm for the maximum probabilistic clique problem. The performance of the algorithm is benchmarked on a test-bed of DIMACS clique instances and on a randomly generated test-bed.     

Alcohol- and drug-involved driving in the United States: methodology for the 2007 National Roadside Survey

This article describes the methodology used in the 2007 U.S. National Roadside Survey to estimate the prevalence of alcohol- and drug-impaired driving and alcohol- and drug-involved driving. This study involved randomly stopping drivers at 300 locations across the 48 continental U.S. states at sites selected through a stratified random sampling procedure. Data were collected during a 2-hr Friday daytime session at 60 locations and during 2-hr nighttime weekend periods at 240 locations. Both self-report and biological measures were taken. Biological measures included breath alcohol measurements from 9,413 respondents, oral fluid samples from 7,719 respondents, and blood samples from 3,276 respondents.     

If happiness is relative, against whom do we compare ourselves? Implications for labour supply

This paper addresses two important issues: the nature of the reference group to which individuals compare themselves, and the implications of social comparisons for labour supply. It identifies age as the main characteristic defining the reference group. Race, sex and religion are other relevant features in its determination. It provides micro-level evidence that social comparisons influence the hours an individual works. Specifically, if her income is lower than her reference group income, she will work more. It also shows that for males, white people and people living in rural areas the effect of relative income on both happiness and labour supply is greater.     

Samir Amin and the challenges of socialist transformation in senile capitalism

ABSTRACT

This article intends to point out strategic dimensions of the thought of Samir Amin. It highlights his analysis of capitalism, of the world system in which it is articulated, and of ways to overcome them in the twenty-first century. He also approaches his reflections on the construction of a V international and his criticisms of those that preceded it.     

‘The Castaways of Life’: A study of organizational remembering within the context of a Chilean Geriatric Hospital

This paper explores the phenomenon of organizational memory within the context of a Chilean Geriatric Hospital that has undergone profound institutional transformations during the last 40 years. The effects of such transformations have reinforced an emphasis on progress at the expense of remembering and integrating the past of the institution as a hospice. The study reveals that this institutional past reverberates in the hospital's working dynamics, which contributes to generating confusion in collective identity, as well as to affect the accomplishment of primary tasks and people's well-being. Access to organizational memory is carried out by the registration of some members' remembering practices about the hospital's past, which are analysed through a hermeneutic method. The study is ethnographic and interpretative, and the recollection of data combines interviews, methods of observation, and the revision of documents.