'Optimization Day' (OD) has been a series of annual mini-conferences in Aus tralia since 1994. The purpose of this series of events is to gather researchers in optimization and its related areas from Australia and their collaborators, in order to exchange new developments of optimization theories, methods and their applications. The first four OD mini-conferences were held in The Uni versity of Ballarat (1994), The University of New South Wales (1995), The University of Melbourne (1996) and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (1997), respectively. They were all on the eastern coast of Australia. The fifth mini-conference Optimization Days was held at the Centre for Ap plied Dynamics and Optimization (CADO), Department of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Western Australia, Perth, from 29 to 30 June 1998. This is the first time the OD mini-conference has been held at the west ern coast of Australia. This fifth OD preceded the International Conference on Optimization: Techniques and Applications (ICOTA) held at Curtin Uni versity of Technology. Many participants attended both events. There were 28 participants in this year's mini-conference and 22 presentations in the mini conference. The presentations in this volume are refereed contributions based on papers presented at the fifth Optimization Days mini-conference. The volume is di vided into the following parts: Global Optimization, Nonsmooth Optimization, Optimization Methods and Applications."

Despite extensive changes in the organisation of social and psychiatric services, there had been no study of mental health social work in the UK since the early 1960s. There was, however, no shortage of ‘received wisdom’ about the perceived failure of social work to provide a service to the mentally disordered. Originally published in 1984, it was to provide some basic information about the practice of social work in this field that the study was conducted on which Mental Health Social Work Observed is based. The authors looked at both long-term work and emergency work in which the use of compulsory powers was requested. In addition to the views of social workers, the opinions of psychiatrists, family practitioners and of the clients themselves were sought in order to gain a full picture of social work in practice. Through their thorough immersion in the field of study and through their experience of social work and of mental health issues, the authors were able to provide a sympathetic and lucid account of the difficulties of mental health social work and of the thorny issue of interprofessional relationships which will ring true to the practitioner. They produced recommendations relevant to social work practice at the time and this book would be found useful to social workers and their managers, to psychiatrists, family practitioners, psychiatric nurses and clinical psychologists. Of particular relevance to the then current changes in the role of the social worker under the new mental health legislation is the authors’ study of mental health emergency work, culminating in a recommended code of practice.

Despite extensive changes in the organisation of social and psychiatric services, there had been no study of mental health social work in the UK since the early 1960s. There was, however, no shortage of 'received wisdom' about the perceived failure of social work to provide a service to the mentally disordered. Originally published in 1984, it was to provide some basic information about the practice of social work in this field that the study was conducted on which Mental Health Social Work Observed is based. The authors looked at both long-term work and emergency work in which the use of compulsory powers was requested. In addition to the views of social workers, the opinions of psychiatrists, family practitioners and of the clients themselves were sought in order to gain a full picture of social work in practice. Through their thorough immersion in the field of study and through their experience of social work and of mental health issues, the authors were able to provide a sympathetic and lucid account of the difficulties of mental health social work and of the thorny issue of interprofessional relationships which will ring true to the practitioner. They produced recommendations relevant to social work practice at the time and this book would be found useful to social workers and their managers, to psychiatrists, family practitioners, psychiatric nurses and clinical psychologists. Of particular relevance to the then current changes in the role of the social worker under the new mental health legislation is the authors' study of mental health emergency work, culminating in a recommended code of practice.

As qualitative researchers incorporate computer assistance into their analytic approaches, important questions arise about the adoption of new technology. Is it worth learning computer-assisted methods? Will the pay-off be sufficient to justify the investment? Which programs are worth learning? What are the effects on the analysis process? This book complements the existing literature by giving a detailed account of the use of four major programs in analyzing the same data. Priority is given to the tasks of qualitative analysis rather than to program capability and the programs are treated as tools rather than as a discipline to be acquired. The key is not what the programs allow researcher to do, but whether the tasks that researchers need to undertake are facilitated by the software. Thus the study develops a user-centred approach to the adoption of computer-assisted qualitative data analysis. The author emphasises qualitative analysis as a creative craft, but one which must increasingly be subject to rigorous methodological scrutiny. The adoption of computer-aided methods offers opportunities, but also dangers and ultimately this book is about the scientific qualitative research. Written in a distinctive and succinct style, this book will be valuable to social science researchers and students interested in qualitative research and in the potential for computer-assisted analysis.

As qualitative researchers incorporate computer assistance into their analytic approaches, important questions arise about the adoption of new technology. Is it worth learning computer-assisted methods? Will the pay-off be sufficient to justify the investment? Which programs are worth learning? What are the effects on the analysis process? This book complements the existing literature by giving a detailed account of the use of four major programs in analyzing the same data. Priority is given to the tasks of qualitative analysis rather than to program capability and the programs are treated as tools rather than as a discipline to be acquired. The key is not what the programs allow researcher to do, but whether the tasks that researchers need to undertake are facilitated by the software. Thus the study develops a user-centred approach to the adoption of computer-assisted qualitative data analysis. The author emphasises qualitative analysis as a creative craft, but one which must increasingly be subject to rigorous methodological scrutiny. The adoption of computer-aided methods offers opportunities, but also dangers and ultimately this book is about the scientific qualitative research. Written in a distinctive and succinct style, this book will be valuable to social science researchers and students interested in qualitative research and in the potential for computer-assisted analysis.

'Optimization Day' (OD) has been a series of annual mini-conferences in Aus tralia since 1994. The purpose of this series of events is to gather researchers in optimization and its related areas from Australia and their collaborators, in order to exchange new developments of optimization theories, methods and their applications. The first four OD mini-conferences were held in The Uni versity of Ballarat (1994), The University of New South Wales (1995), The University of Melbourne (1996) and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (1997), respectively. They were all on the eastern coast of Australia. The fifth mini-conference Optimization Days was held at the Centre for Ap plied Dynamics and Optimization (CADO), Department of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Western Australia, Perth, from 29 to 30 June 1998. This is the first time the OD mini-conference has been held at the west ern coast of Australia. This fifth OD preceded the International Conference on Optimization: Techniques and Applications (ICOTA) held at Curtin Uni versity of Technology. Many participants attended both events. There were 28 participants in this year's mini-conference and 22 presentations in the mini conference. The presentations in this volume are refereed contributions based on papers presented at the fifth Optimization Days mini-conference. The volume is di vided into the following parts: Global Optimization, Nonsmooth Optimization, Optimization Methods and Applications."