A dynamic programming approach of finding an optimal broadcast schedule in minimizing total flow time

We study the problem of (off-line) broadcast scheduling in minimizing total flow time and propose a dynamic programming approach to compute an optimal broadcast schedule. Suppose the broadcast server has k pages and the last page request arrives at time n. The optimal schedule can be computed in O(k³(n+k)^k−1) time for the case that the server has a single broadcast channel. For m channels case, i.e., the server can broadcast m different pages at a time where m < k, the optimal schedule can be computed in O(n^k−m) time when k and m are constants. Note that this broadcast scheduling problem is NP-hard when k is a variable and will take O(n^k−m+1) time when k is fixed and m ≥ 1 with the straightforward implementation of the dynamic programming approach. The preliminary version of this paper appeared in Proceedings of the 11th Annual International Computing and Combinatorics Conference as “Off-line Algorithms for Minimizing the Total Flow Time in Broadcast Scheduling”.     

An Open-Systems Approach to Teaching Family Therapy*

Through systems concepts are increasingly employed in family and marital therapy, they are usually employed in a limited way, excluding some aspects of the total system. Systems ideas are applied most fully to the nuclear and extended family of the referred patient, and increasingly to the therapist's family of origin. The interface between the influence of the family of origin of the professional and difficulties in his practice is also scrutinized, though more often in a teaching and supervisory context than during therapy. The relationships among the therapist's family of origin, his marriage and family of procreation, and his professional work are more often neglected, and the influence of all three on the dynamics of institutions, training programs and staff groups is least often explored. The authors, a married couple who work together professionally, occupied fin-several years a crucial leadership role in developing the first multi-disciplinary teaching programs in the London area, bringing together key teachers from all the main institutions, with widely differing theoretical orientations, in a group which now forms the Institute of Family Therapy (London). This paper describes their attempt to facilitate a more consistently open-systems approach which appeared to stimulate unusually rapid growth, learning, and group cohe-siveness.     

Understanding how deficit discourses work against implementing participatory approaches in Australian Indigenous policy

One of the few things that everyone can agree on with respect to Australian Indigenous policy is that repeated government experiments aimed at improving Indigenous well‐being in Australia and particularly in remote Australia have failed. Outcomes remain poor and are, if anything, deteriorating in a number of areas. Critics have characterised the history of Indigenous policy as a series of failed policy experiments. The latest experiment in the quest to improve outcomes involves attempts to move away from the usual rational‐technical approaches, toward participatory approaches or “partnerships”. However, governments are struggling to implement these innovations. Self‐evidently, the Closing the Gap policy is grounded in deficit discourse. This paper examines how this discourse works within the existing Indigenous policy world to create possibly irreconcilable tensions with attempts to introduce participatory approaches. It does this using Logics of Critical Explanation, an interpretive method which allows us to understand how policy actors work within an existing policy world to either replace or augment their norms, values and ideologies to work in the new ways that are asked of them, or to resist innovation and revert to the status quo.     

Social work intervention in adolescent-to-parent abuse

This article is exploratory qualitative research which highlights the importance of interventions in families when the elders in the family are abused. The findings suggest there is a misinterpretation of this form of abuse occurring in homes. Responses from participants clearly shows the nature of the abuse parents were experiencing. Dissemination of information through workshops and literature would benefit first respondents identifying cases of adolescent-to-parent abuse. Information shared would also benefit parents and the wider society in recognizing this form of abuse. The authors recommend mechanisms for coping strategies that can be implemented for families in crisis.     

Mothers of adolescent girls 1

Abstract

It is increasingly difficult to distinguish natural events from those influenced by human actions. Furthermore, researchers in various fields have established that the level of devastation and the predicted likelihood of recovery of neighborhoods and communities correspond with the amount of political and socioeconomic capital held by neighborhoods and communities prior to disasters such as the Hurricane Katrina. In this paper we analyze the significance of the discourse of “natural disasters” through the framework of social ecology. We contest the neutralist discourse of “natural disasters” by underscoring the numerous interdependent sociopolitical forces, which shape the context in which disasters occur.     

Mothers and fathers’ experiences of high conflict past two years post separation: A systematic review of the qualitative literature

Abstract

Within a child custody context, this article systematically reviewed the available qualitative research of post separation, high conflict, co-parenting relationships. Separated parents’ experiences of high conflict were reportedly embedded in pervasive mistrust and disdain, and underpinned by concerns over differing parenting styles, or the other parent’s ability to adequately care for the child. The factors that potentially maintained conflict were parental concerns regarding the child’s safety and well-being when in the care of the other parent. The factor that potentially escalated conflict was disdain directed at the other parent’s concerns. Recommendations for future research and implications for social policy for these families are discussed.     

CLINICAL ISSUES WITH AFRICAN-AMERICAN AND WHITE WOMEN WISHING TO MARRY IN MID-LIFE

This article reviews the literature on the conflicts and presenting problems of mid-life single women wishing to marry and addresses the clinical issues in their treatment. Methodology and findings of a research project conducted by the authors with 49 African-American and White women who married after the age of 35 are reported. There is a review of the sociological and historical context for African-American women, which accounts for the different findings for the two subgroups studied. The paper concludes with recommendations to the clinician working with this population.