End-to-end queuing delay assessment in multi-service ip networks

Packet-based networks are more and more used to transport interactive streaming services like telephony and videophony. To guarantee a good quality for these services, the queuing delay and delay jitter introduced in the transport of voice or video flows over the packet-based network should be kept under control. Because data sources tend to increase their sending rate until (a part of) the network is congested, mixing real-time traffic and data traffic in one queue would lead to unacceptable high delays for real-time services. Therefore, voice and video packets need to get preferential treatment ( e.g. head-of-line priority) over data packets in the network nodes. Therefore, the queuing behavior of the voice and video packets can be studied more or less independently from the traffic generated by data services. Simple methods to assess the end-to-end delay are primordial. Since it is well known that an aggregate of voice (and CBR video) sources is accurately modeled by a Poisson arrival process and that delays in consecutive nodes are more or less statistically independent, this boils down to developing methods to calculate quantiles of the total queuing delay through a system of N statistically independent M/G/1 nodes. This paper develops four methods to calculate quantiles of the total queuing delay: a Gaussian method, a method based on the numerical inversion of the moment generating function of the total queuing delay developed by Abate and Whitt and two methods based on the assumption that the tail distribution of the individual queuing delay of one node is approximately exponential. The Gaussian method is the simplest, but only gives crude results. The method of Abate and Whitt is the most complex and breaks down for large quantiles. The methods based on the assumption of an exponential tail produce results that are more or less equally accurate as long as there is a node where the load is high enough.     

Creating SPOTs for Successful Aging: Strengthening the Case for Developing University-Based Retirement Communities Using Social-Physical Place Over Time Theory

Five elements are cited as being critical for a university-based retirement communities’ (UBRCs’) success: proximity to the university, two-directional programming, continuing care, a financial link to the university, and a minimum 10% resident connection to the university. We illustrate these criteria using examples from existing UBRCs. The comparisons are then contextualized in the broader framework of Social-Physical Place Over Time (SPOT) theory. SPOT theory focuses on the interactions between social and physical places among older adults. By analyzing the intersections between SPOT theory and UBRC criteria, we identify additional criteria to improve the definition of a UBRC: transportation support and facilitating activity. UBRCs offer value because they provide the social and physical place where older adults can live when they retire, thereby improving changes in individual agency and belongingness needs, which are key tenets of SPOT theory. The integration of the UBRC criteria and the SPOT theory framework builds on this relatively new meta-theory in environmental gerontology. SPOT theory effectively highlights how UBRCs benefit older adults and the community; UBRCs provide significant benefits not only to older adult residents, but also to the university communities that house them.     

A Capability Approach to Unemployed Young People's Voice and Agency in the Development and Implementation of Employment Activation Policies

In the UK, current approaches to employment activation are primarily concerned with rapid labour market entry, with jobseekers compelled to engage in activities or be sanctioned. The Capability Approach (CA) has been proposed as an alternative framework to measure successful employment activation. It is concerned with what people can do rather than what they actually do, together with their substantive freedom of choice. In applying the CA, attention is drawn to the need for jobseekers to have a voice in the design and implementation of employment activation programmes. Drawing on in‐depth qualitative research, this article uses the CA to explore the voice and agency of unemployed young people (aged 16–24) in the development and implementation of employment activation policies. It analyses how far, and in what ways, young people's ideas, experiences and voices are included in policy development and implementation. Reflections and conclusions are made about how the policy discourse which has stressed the importance of centring services on the needs of users is reflected in employment activation policy.     

The Kids Say Project: Supporting Children to Talk about their Experiences and to Engage in Decision-making

Research and policy calls for hearing the voices of children and youth in out-of-home care and involving them in decisions about their own lives. The “Kids Say” cards were designed to facilitate this engagement, particularly with Indigenous children and youth. A feasibility study explored the extent to which the Kids Say cards were acceptable to young people, and prompted discussion about their lives and what is important to them. The study involved 47 participants, aged 7 to 18 years, from three cultural groups: Aboriginal n?=?20; culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) n?=?10; non-Indigenous English-speaking n?=?17. The cards were found to be appealing to all three groups, and to facilitate child and youth voice. Findings also did not differ significantly according to gender or age. These preliminary findings indicate the potential value of appropriate practice tools to support children and youth to share their experiences and participate in decision-making.

IMPLICATIONS

• Engaging resources, such as the Kids Say resource, are potentially valuable in supporting practitioners to encourage children and young people to share their experiences and participate in decision-making about their own care and service needs.

• Training in creating safe sharing contexts for children and young people is essential. While emphasis is often given to gathering child voices, there is a need for at least equal emphasis on respectful adult listening.

     

Anachronism,Agency, and the Contextualisation of Adat: Van Vollenhoven’s Analyses in Light of Struggles Over Resources

This article discusses the conceptual and analytical contributions of the Dutch scholar Cornelis van Vollenhoven to the study of Indonesian adat law. He argued from a politically inspired concern about gross colonial exploitation in the Dutch East Indies that this was based on flawed understandings of local legal orders. This stimulated him to design a conceptual framework to capture the characteristics of these legal orders, called adat law. His perceptiveness to the distortions caused by using Western legal concepts to describe customary laws was unique for the time, and so was his attention to the various contexts other than in disputes in which adat law was used. This renders his work of importance not only for lawyers but also for social scientists. The article discusses the criticism against his academic work and suggests that despite some major weaknesses, some criticisms are anachronistic as they concerned earlier or later scholars rather than the work of van Vollenhoven himself. The article shows how debates about indigenous rights and the decentralisation policies after the fall of the Soeharto regime have stimulated a renewed interest in adat and adat law. It is argued that van Vollenhoven’s conceptual framework is still of use, but only if it is expanded and set into a broader analysis of migration, exploitation, and power relations.     

Familial relational experiences of a child born into the midst of parental drug misuse and its longevity impact

This paper details a study that listened and empowered an adult (Beth, a pseudonym), through the use of a life story methodology, to reflect on her childhood experiences of parental drug misuse. Voice Relational Analysis was applied to Beth's life story to assist the researcher to unravel and cipher, through the complexities and nuances of her voice, Beth's familial relational experiences and the lengthy lineage these have had on her ability to relate with others. This paper highlights the somewhat complex composition of her interpersonal relationships and reveals how she related both positively and negatively within them.     

Testing overdispersion in data with censoring using the mixture of exponential families

This resean h extends the mixture of exponential family developed by Dean (1992) to accommodate oveidispeision in data with censoring. Score statistics testing the (Existence of overdispersion based on the proposed model are obtained Simulations show that the test statistics have suffcient power in detecting the existence of overdispersion when sample size are sufficiently large and the degree of censoring is mild (i. e, 40%) The test statistics are applied to real data sets and are able to detect overdispersion in those data sets.     

《飞越疯人院》与美国的反文化运动

在《飞越疯人院》这部小说中,肯·凯西颠覆了传统意义上的无赖、印第安人、女性和黑人形象,这几类曾被主流社会排斥在外的边缘化人物在疯人院——这一20世纪60年代美国社会的缩微舞台上纷纷粉墨登场,既再现了保守、沉寂的五十年代,又昭示了喧嚣、动荡的六十年代,是那样一个骚乱动荡年代反文化运动的特定产物。     

New methodology: Measuring racial or ethnic disparities in child welfare

Understanding the disparate treatment of African American children in the child welfare system requires consideration of the dynamics at a community level and the state level. Looking across a state allows one to target policies and practices to areas within the state that are most in need. This paper argues for a new method of assessing disparate treatment in child welfare that takes into consideration the racial or ethnic makeup of the community in conjunction with the racial or ethnic makeup across the state. This paper uses decision based enumeration which helps to pinpoint decisions where disparities are the greatest, and helps target decisions that most impact disparate treatment. This paper utilizes a methodology that is both accessible to state and county child welfare administrators and utilizes data that is readily available to child welfare policy makers and administrators. Using data from Illinois to illustrate this methodology, this paper highlights the regions within the state where limited resources may be targeted to address disproportionate representation and disparate treatment in Illinois' child welfare system.