Large scale communication networks—Design and analysis

The paper discusses the problem of design and analysis of large scale communication systems. An iterative process, composed of a minimum cost network design algorithm and a network performance algorithm, is presented for the solution of these problems. Computational considerations, using these algorithms, are discussed.     

Lighthouse Independent Living Program: Predictors of client outcomes at discharge

This study examined clinical risk factors and their association with client outcomes at discharge among 385 emancipating foster youth in Cincinnati, Ohio, who entered the Lighthouse Independent Living Program during the period 2001-2005. These youth averaged 18 years of age and remained in the program an average of 10 months. At the time of discharge at age 19, 58% of these young adults had completed high school, 32% were employed, and 38% were living independently; 11% had achieved all three aforementioned outcomes. An exploratory principal components factor analysis of nineteen dichotomous risk factor items assessed by clinical staff at the time of admission yielded four types of risk: mental health problems, delinquency issues, teen parenting, and cognitive impairment. Logistic regression analysis revealed a number of significant relationships between each of these four clinical risk factors and client outcomes after adjusting for demographic and program characteristics. Those with mental health problems were only half as likely as others to have attained all three outcomes. Parenting youth were only half as likely to have completed high school or to be employed as others. Those with delinquency issues were only one-fourth as likely than others to be independently housed at discharge. Finally, older youth and those remaining in the program longer showed more favorable outcomes than others. Implications for child welfare policy and practice pertaining to independent living are discussed.     

A Look at State‐Level Risk Assessment in the United States: Making Decisions in the Absence of Federal Risk Values

State environmental agencies in the United States are charged with making risk management decisions that protect public health and the environment while managing limited technical, financial, and human resources. Meanwhile, the federal risk assessment community that provides risk assessment guidance to state agencies is challenged by the rapid growth of the global chemical inventory. When chemical toxicity profiles are unavailable on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Integrated Risk Information System or other federal resources, each state agency must act independently to identify and select appropriate chemical risk values for application in human health risk assessment. This practice can lead to broad interstate variation in the toxicity values selected for any one chemical. Within this context, this article describes the decision‐making process and resources used by the federal government and individual U.S. states. The risk management of trichloroethylene (TCE) in the United States is presented as a case study to demonstrate the need for a collaborative approach among U.S. states toward identification and selection of chemical risk values while awaiting federal risk values to be set. The regulatory experience with TCE is contrasted with collaborative risk science models, such as the European Union's efforts in risk assessment harmonization. Finally, we introduce State Environmental Agency Risk Collaboration for Harmonization, a free online interactive tool designed to help to create a collaborative network among state agencies to provide a vehicle for efficiently sharing information and resources, and for the advancement of harmonization in risk values used among U.S. states when federal guidance is unavailable.     

Assessing the effectiveness of strategic planning

This paper describes a method for assessing the effectiveness of strategic planning systems in terms of the results actually observed subsequent to planning activity. The paper explains in particular how, in making the assessment, one might cope with the fact of environmental change subsequent to the setting of planned goals. This ends oriented approach to measuring effectiveness is shown to be complementary to process oriented approaches and is illustrated by an example from the coal industry.     

The role of housing in the transition process of youth and young adults: a twenty-year perspective

Lighthouse Youth Services in Cincinnati, Ohio, began placing foster youth, ages sixteen to eighteen, in individual apartments and other living arrangements in 1981 as a way of preparing them for life after foster care. The program has assisted over thirteen hundred youth and their children using scattered-site apartments, shared homes, roommate situations, host homes, and subsidized housing. The agency works with referring agencies to develop a transition plan one youth at a time and allows youth to move along a continuum of housing options depending on their level of functioning and behavior. Aftercare services assist youth for years after they leave custody. This chapter includes some case studies and summarizes the author's observations from running the program for the past twenty years.     

Improving homeless persons' utilisation of primary care: lessons to be learned from an outreach programme in The Netherlands

Elissen AMJ, Van Raak AJA, Derckx EWCC, Vrijhoef HJM. Improving homeless persons' utilisation of primary care: lessons to be learned from an outreach programme in The Netherlands Faced with rising homelessness, countries around the world are in need of innovative approaches to caring for those without shelter, who, more often than not, suffer from severe health problems. We conducted a case study of an innovative Dutch Primary Care for the Homeless (PCH) programme to gain insight into clients' demographic characteristics, health problems and service use, and to develop an explanation for its success in increasing the latter. Our analyses are based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative data. The results of the study suggest that the success of the PCH programme can be explained by the providers' pragmatism and will to adapt their mode of care provision to the behavioural patterns and needs of their homeless clients.     

Living arrangements and level of care among clients discharged from a scattered-site housing-based independent living program

There is little recent research in the field of adolescent independent living that looks at the specific living arrangements of youth, who at the point of discharge from the child welfare system, had experienced living independently and had access to a choice of housing options. Administrative data and reviews of client records were used in this study to look at the choice of housing option and the change in level of care of 367 young adults who emancipated from the Lighthouse Youth Services Independent Living Program in Cincinnati, Ohio, during the five-year period 2001-2006. Given a range of housing options at the time of discharge, over half (55%) chose an independent living arrangement, including 41% who lived in their own place, either alone (28%) or with a roommate (13%). Only 21% decided to live in someone else's home, including just 7% with one or both birth parents, 10% with some other relative, and 4% with a non-relative. The remaining 24% of youth were discharged from independent living to a more restrictive living arrangement (a.k.a., higher “level of care”, including a residential treatment program, group home, foster care, or supervised independent living program) (11%) or whose whereabouts were unknown (13%). The outcomes of this study suggest that, when presented with a choice of housing options, most of this county's emancipating foster youth would prefer to live on their own, rather than to return to live with their families of origin. The study also suggests that many youth who participate in a scattered-site housing-based independent living program can succeed in leaving care with affordable housing in place and avoid immediate homelessness.