Shift rostering using decomposition: assign weekend shifts first

This paper introduces a shift rostering problem that surprisingly has not been studied in literature: the weekend shift rostering problem. It is motivated by our experience that employees’ shift preferences predominantly focus on the weekends, since many social activities happen during weekends. The Weekend Rostering Problem (WRP) addresses the rostering of weekend shifts, for which we design a problem specific heuristic. We consider the WRP as the first phase of the shift rostering problem. To complete the shift roster, the second phase assigns the weekday shifts using an existing algorithm. We discuss effects of this two-phase approach both on the weekend shift roster and on the roster as a whole. We demonstrate that our first-phase heuristic is effective both on generated instances and real-life instances. For situations where the weekend shift roster is one of the key determinants of the quality of the complete roster, our two-phase approach shows to be effective when incorporated in a commercially implemented algorithm

Participation of Children Involved in the Child Protection System – Validation of the Meaningful Participation Assessment Tool (MPAT)

Children have the right to participate in child protection investigations. Although research suggests that participation is related to positive outcomes of children in the child protection system, children’s participation is not always facilitated in practice. Therefore, it is important to validate tools that can be used to further investigate children’s participation. We examined the psychometric properties (i.e., reliability, internal validity, and external validity) of the Meaningful Participation Assessment Tool (MPAT), which measures the degree in which child protection professionals enable children’s participation in child protection investigations. The MPAT is based on the Model of Meaningful Participation (Bouma et al. 2018) and distinguishes three domains of children’s participation in child protection: 1) informing, 2) hearing, and 3) involving in decision-making. It consists of 13 items. We validated the MPAT based on data from 292 child protection cases. We concluded that the MPAT was reliable, internally valid and externally valid. The MPAT’s reliability was reflected by substantial Cohen’s Kappa coefficients ranging from .63 to .92. The Mokken scale analysis revealed a strong scale of 8 items (H = .70, Rho = .89). Items on seeing and hearing children about child protection topics seemed relatively more easy to achieve compared to items on providing children with information, which suggests that child protection workers may struggle most with informing children. Lastly, we concluded that the MPAT might be externally valid because we found higher MPAT scores for subgroups based on child protection institution, age, and gender, which was in line with our expectations

Psychosocial Determinants of Attrition in a Longitudinal Study of Tobacco Use in Youth

To gain knowledge on psychosocial characteristics that predict the propensity of participation in longitudinal studies, attrition was analysed in a cohort of 3020 adolescents participating in the baseline survey of a longitudinal study with repeated followup focusing on adolescents' tobacco use. During the followup surveys, the proportion of responders was constantly at or above 90%. There were 941 adolescents (31.2%) who failed to participate in at least one of the six followup surveys. Boys had a fifty percent increased risk of nonparticipation compared with girls. Adolescents in families with experience of divorce, unemployment, and change of residence had a higher risk of nonparticipation. An increasing number of stressful life events during the previous year, uptake of tobacco use, number of friends, perceived performance at school, truancy, and alcohol use during the last term also independently associated with nonparticipation. Diverse psychosocial characteristics are independently associated with nonparticipation of youths in longitudinal studies

Child and Youth Coaching in families experiencing complex and multiple problems:A longitudinal evaluation study

Studies investigating services for families experiencing complex and multiple problems have emphasized the need for more child-centred support. The aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate whether providing child-centred services (Child and Youth Coaching) combined with family-focused services (Ten for the Future) is effective for children growing up in families experiencing complex and multiple problems. Children's psychosocial skills, emotional and behavioural problems, and the quality of their pedagogical environment were measured at baseline, 6 months and 12 months. Parent and coach reports of children indicated for Child and Youth Coaching (n = 57) and nonindicated children (n = 18) were analysed using repeated measures multilevel models. Both parents and coaches reported improved psychosocial skills of children, but changes were only significant for coach reports. In both reports, no significant decrease in emotional and behavioural problems was observed for both indicated and nonindicated children. Many children still experienced considerable problems at case closure. Furthermore, no significant improvement in quality of the pedagogical environment was observed in both groups. Given the limitations in this study, more research is needed to identify whether these findings can be replicated and attributed to the Child and Youth Coaching and Ten for the Future programmes

Fidelity and flexibility of care activities in child-centered youth care for children growing up in families experiencing complex and multiple problems

Researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in the field of child and family welfare have emphasized the need for child-centered services for children growing up in families experiencing complex and multiple problems (FECMP). However, the provision of evidence-based services for these children requires knowledge of the care activities of these services. The aim of this study was to investigate care activities and considerations related to the care provision of child-centered care for children growing up in FECMP. To study these care activities and considerations we investigated the care process of a program called Child and Youth Coaching. Hybrid coding was used to identify and compare care activities from multiple sources. In the first phase of analysis a coding scheme of care activities was derived from the program manual. Secondly, these care activities were identified from practice using daily care reports, intake forms, and interviews with coaches and the developers of the intervention. During this stage additional care activities were identified from practice. All care activities were compared across sources to assess whether care provision in practice adhered to the program manual (fidelity), and to investigate whether care provision varied across cases (flexibility). Furthermore, considerations that played a role in care provision were identified (considerations). The results showed treatment fidelity for most care activities. However, some treatment standards were only broadly defined in the program manual. Flexibility in treatment was mainly observed in the adaptation of problem assessment to the capabilities and interests of the child. Overall, Child and Youth Coaching promoted child participation by focusing on children’s perspectives in problem assessment, setting care goals, and determining care activities. However, several barriers to child participation were identified such as non-disclosure about the family situation, young age, and a lack of motivation. Although children experiencing these barriers to participation need additional attention in future intervention development and research, we conclude Child and Youth Coaching is a promising program in promoting the participation and wellbeing of children growing up in FECMP

De Epposteen van Rinsumageest

This article focuses on the so-called 'Eppo stone': a beautifully hewn tomb-cover dating from the middle of the fourteenth century with a detailed, realistic representation of a young man that is unparalleled in the entire Frisian coastal region. The stone originates from the village of Rinsumageest, near Dokkum, where it was fixed to the north-east side of the church until the middle of the nineteenth century. At the moment the stone is in the depot of the Fries Museum. For the interpretation of the edge inscription and the description of the figure one used to rely on the article devoted to the subject by the erudite L.J.F. Janssen in 1865. Upon closer examination it appears that some major corrections can be made in his text and the representation also reveals details that were not noticed before. The depiction of a jumping pole in the hands of the young man, for instance, indicates a specific regional Frisian context. However, the main point is that it was possible to establish the exact names of Eppo's parents and brothers, from which it can be concluded that his family had better be placed among the nobility of northern Oostergo. This confirms the assumption that it concerns ancestors of the owners of the country estate 'Tjaardastate', whom we did not know by name until the fifteenth century. The question whether the stone used to cover a sarcophagus and where that sarcophagus was originally placed, cannot be answered yet. At the end of the article it is suggested that the stone coffin had been interred in the crypt of the church of Rinsumageest; a crypt that may date from the twelfth century and was possibly used in the fourteenth century by the dominant noble family in the village in memory of themselves

Optimizing foster family placement for infants and toddlers:A randomized controlled trial on the effect of the Foster Family Intervention

Item does not contain fulltextThe relationship between foster children and their foster carers comes with many risks and may be very stressful both for parents and children. We developed an intervention (foster family intervention [FFI]) to tackle these risks. The intervention focuses on foster children below the age of 5 years. The objective was to investigate the effects of FFI on the interactions between foster parents and foster children. A randomized control trial was carried out with a sample of 123 preschool aged children (mean age 18.8 months; 51% boys) and their foster carers. A pretest was carried out 6 to 8 weeks after placement and a posttest one half year later. Interactions were videotaped and coded using the Emotional Availability Scales (EAS). Foster carers were asked to fill in the Dutch version of the Parenting Stress Index. Morning and evening samples of children's salivary cortisol were taken. In the posttest, significantly positive effects were found on the following EAS subscales: Sensitivity, Structuring, Nonintrusiveness, and Responsiveness. We found no significant differences on stress levels of foster carers and children (Nijmeegse Ouderlijke Stress Index domains and salivary cortisol). This study shows that the FFI has a significant positive effect on parenting skills as measured with EAS and on Responsiveness of the foster child. Findings are discussed in terms of impact and significance relating to methodology and design of the study and to clinical relevance. (PsycINFO Database Recor

Home-visiting interventions for families with complex and multiple problems:A systematic review and meta-analysis of out-of-home placement and child outcomes

Children growing up in families experiencing complex and multiple problems (FECMP) are at an increased risk of developing problems in multiple areas of life. A wide array of home-visiting interventions has been developed to address the complex care needs of these families. The aim of this study is to investigate out-of-home placement rates and child outcomes of these home-visiting interventions. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted using five scientific databases (PsycInfo, ERIC, SocIndex, MedLine, & Picarta). The systematic search of these databases yielded 8,377 hits. Forty-two publications reporting on 50 studies were included in the review. A random-effects survival curve meta-analysis model was estimated for out-of-home placement and random-effects meta-analysis models were estimated for children's behavioral problems and stressful experiences. Out-of-home placement increased from 7.5% at case closure to 24.3% one year after case closure. On average there was a moderate decrease in emotional and behavioral problems (d = 0.50) and stressful experiences (d = 0.50) during intervention, but considerable problems remained after case closure. More research is needed to investigate family and service characteristics that may explain heterogeneity in outcomes. Furthermore, there is a need to adopt a broader perspective in evaluations of home-visiting services by including outcomes related to the skills, development, and wellbeing of children

Relativistic analysis of magnetoelectric crystals: extracting a new 4-dimensional P odd and T odd pseudoscalar from Cr_2 O_3 data

Earlier, the linear magnetoelectric effect of chromium sesquioxide Cr_2 O_3 has been determined experimentally as a function of temperature. One measures the electric field-induced magnetization on Cr_2 O_3 crystals or the magnetic field-induced polarization. From the magnetoelectric moduli of Cr_2 O_3 we extract a 4-dimensional relativistic invariant pseudoscalar \tilde\alpha. It is temperature dependent and of the order of ~ 10^{-4} Y_0, with Y_0 as vacuum admittance. We show that the new pseudoscalar \tilde\alpha is odd under parity transformation and odd under time inversion. Moreover, \tilde\alpha is for Cr_2 O_3 what Tellegen's gyrator is for two port theory, the axion field for axion electrodynamics, and the PEMC (perfect electromagnetic conductor) for electrical engineering.Comment: 6 pages latex, 3 figures, accepted by Physics Letters