Urban tree cover: an ecological perspective

Analysis of urban tree cover is generally limited to inventories of tree structure and composition on public lands. This approach provided valuable information for resource management. However, it does not account for all tree cover within an urban landscape, thus providing insufficient information on ecological patterns and processes. We propose evaluating tree cover for an entire urban area that is based on patch dynamics. Treed patches are classified by their origin, structure, and management intensity. A patch approach enables ecologists to evaluate ecological patterns and processes for the entire urban landscape and to examine how social patterns influence these ecological patterns and processes.     

Returning to psychotherapy with the same therapist: A self psychological perspective

Terminations or interruptions of psychotherapy which have been followed by a patient's resuming therapy with the same therapist at a later time have often been viewed as premature with the implication that the initial therapy has been inadequate or deficient. This paper suggests, however, that a patient returns to the same therapist because the selfobject bond established in the initial treatment is still intact, and that the hiatus between treatments can be a time of further development and strengthening of self structure. Two clinical cases are described which illustrate these ideas.     

A Continuous Representation of the Family of Stable Law Distributions

Conventional parametric representations of stable law distributions do not allow all members of the family to be obtained as continuous limits of the parameters. Model building (or simulation) using such representations will be numerically unstable near such limits in consequence. Existing tables are not satisfactory near such limits as interpolation cannot be carried out. We show that these difficulties are overcome by using a new shifted Cartesian representation which characterizes the entire stable law family in a completely continuous way. Standardization is still possible with this representation so that tabulation, using just two bounded parameters, can be carried out. Its use is illustrated in a non-regular threshold estimation problem involving stable distributions which are discontinuous limits in conventional representations.     

Profile upper Confidence Limits from Discrete Data

When the data are discrete, standard approximate confidence limits often have coverage well below nominal for some parameter values. While ad hoc adjustments may largely solve this problem for particular cases, Kabaila & Lloyd (1997) gave a more systematic method of adjustment which leads to tight upper limits, which have coverage which is never below nominal and are as small as possible within a particular class. However, their computation for all but the simplest models is infeasible. This paper suggests modifying tight upper limits by an initial replacement of the unknown nuisance parameter vector by its profile maximum likelihood estimator. While the resulting limits no longer possess the optimal properties of tight limits exactly, the paper presents both numerical and theoretical evidence that the resulting coverage function is close to optimal. Moreover these profile upper limits are much (possibly many orders of magnitude) easier to compute than tight upper limits.     

Critical decision areas in corporate financial policy

The argument in this paper rests on the assumption that the prime objective of any corporate activity must in some way be related to a profitability goal, however this may be measured, however this may be defined, and however this may be constrained by the relevance of a times-cale.

The paper makes some comments on the selection of a corporate objective or goal but mainly it considers the direct contribution that financial management can make to achievement of this goal. It distinguishes this from the accounting rôle which is more appropriately concerned with measuring and monitoring progress towards the goal.     

A decision support system for the graph model of conflicts

A comprehensive decision support system called GMCA (Graph Model for Conflict Analysis) implementing the multi-player graph model for analyzing conflicts is developed. GMCA contains algorithms for the rapid computation of a wide range of solution concepts, thereby enabling decision makers to take account of the diversity of human behavior. Using an engineering case study, the key features of GMCA are illustrated.     

Propensity to adopt innovative housing: Development of knowledge indexes

The process by which energy efficient housing alternatives is diffused through society in relation to the information flow is relatively unknown. The major purpose of this study was to validate a continuum of the propensity to adopt alternative housing (passive and active solar, earth sheltered and retrofitted) based on knowledge level. Findings indicate knowledge indices are valid predictors of consumer acceptance of energy efficient housing alternatives. A greater level of knowledge was correlated with respondents willing to adopt an alternative housing type.