Personality and psychopathological profiles in individuals exposed to mobbing

Increasingly, mental health and medical professionals have been asked to assess claims of psychological harm arising from harassment at the workplace, or "mobbing." This study assessed the personality and psychopathological profiles of 146 individuals exposed to mobbing using validity, clinical, and content scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory 2. Profiles and factor analyses were obtained. Two major dimensions emerged among those exposed to mobbing: (a) depressed mood, difficulty in making decisions, change-related anguish, and passive-aggressive traits (b) somatic symptoms, and need for attention and affection. This cross-sectional pilot study provides evidence that personality profiles of mobbing victims and psychological damage resulting from mobbing may be evaluated using standardized assessments, though a longitudinal study is needed to delineate cause-and-effect relationships.     

A comparison of risk transfer strategies for a portfolio of life annuities based on RORAC

This paper aims to compare different reinsurance arrangements in order to reduce the longevity and financial risk originated by a life insurer while managing a portfolio of annuities policies. Linear and nonlinear reinsurance strategies as well as swap like agreements are evaluated via a discrete-time actuarial risk model. Specifically, longevity dynamics are represented by Lee–Carter type models, while interest rate is modeled by Cox–Ingersoll–Ross model. The reinsurance strategies effectiveness is evaluated according to the Return on Risk Adjusted Capital under a ruin probability constrain.     

Transparency in the European Bond Market

The European bond market is made up of many segments characterised by varying levels of liquidity and of pre- and post-trade transparency. The possibility of extending the transparency provisions envisioned in the Directive 2004/39/EC, disciplining the functioning of markets in financial instruments in Europe (MiFID), from the equity to the bond market is currently being discussed. This poses risks to the status quo through trading fragmentation and strong negotiating power of a few large dealers, particularly with respect to small retail investors. The main conclusion of the paper is that if MiFID transparency rules are to be extended to the bond market, this must be “real” transparency, meaning pre-trade dissemination of real-time executable prices and a transparent order book. Under current provisions, this kind of information is available if not directly to everybody, at least directly to dealers and indirectly to professional and retail clients through business-to-business electronic platforms.     

Are people in the South less intelligent than in the North? IQ and the North–South disparity in Italy

Socioeconomic disparity between North and South Italy has been recently explained by Lynn (2010) as the result of a lower intelligence quotient (IQ) of the Southern population. The present article discusses the procedure followed by Lynn, supplementing his data with new information on school assessments and per head regional income. Genetic North–South differences are then discussed on the basis of the most recent literature on the subject. The results do not confirm the suggested IQ-economy causal link.     

Monte Carlo methods for nonparametric survival model determination

In the causal analysis of survival data a time-based response is related to a set of explanatory variables. Definition of the relation between the time and the covariates may become a difficult task, particularly in the preliminary stage, when the information is limited. Through a nonparametric approach, we propose to estimate the survival function allowing to evaluate the relative importance of each potential explanatory variable, in a simple and explanatory fashion. To achieve this aim, each of the explanatory variables is used to partition the observed survival times. The observations are assumed to be partially exchangeable according to such partition. We then consider, conditionally on each partition, a hierarchical nonparametric Bayesian model on the hazard functions. We define and compare different prior distribution for the hazard functions.     

Strengthening Purity: Moral Purity as a Mediator of Direct and Extended Cross-Group Friendships on Sexual Prejudice

The present research investigated whether enhanced perceptions of moral purity drive the effects of intergroup cross-group friendships on the intentions to interact with homosexuals. High-school students (N = 639) reported their direct and extended cross-group friendships with homosexuals as well as their beliefs regarding the moral character of the sexual minority. Participants further reported their desire to interact with homosexuals in the future. Results showed that both face-to-face encounters and extended contact with homosexuals increased their perceived moral purity, which in turn fostered more positive behavioral intentions. Results further revealed the specific role of moral purity in this sense, as differential perceptions along other moral domains (autonomy and community) had no mediation effects on behavioral tendencies toward homosexuals. The importance of these findings for improving intergroup relations is discussed, together with the importance of integrating research on intergroup contact and morality.     

17至18世纪意大利人对中国的印象和想象

在意大利,关于中华帝国及其文化的详细知识是从16世纪就开始流传的,但这些信息为更多人所知却是在17和18世纪。对中国的大规模发现始于访问过中国的耶稣会士寄回的各种报告的出版以及他们向欧洲介绍中国经书的译作。这些知识在学术界被不断地讨论,最初是耶稣会士和宗教阶层,接着是启蒙运动的信徒。它们同时也成了整个欧洲就福音传道方法或"礼仪"的种类而引起的广泛辩论中所使用的工具:中国的贤明形象、自然神论、开明的专制政体,这些都为意大利及欧洲的思想家们的辩论提供了有趣的素材。同样的,关于"中国礼仪"的争论最初只限于教会内部和不同教派之间,但慢慢地就冲破了宗教论争和福音传道方法的限制,牵涉到了更广泛的议题:儒家学说本质上是一种道德体系还是一种宗教?讨论的对象也变成了对宗教本身的定义、文化与信仰的关系、对上帝的看法、不同社会的价值观相对性这些问题。这些信息从而被用于更深层次的辩论之中,中国的体系被当作是这样或那样的国家的和道德的观念的标准。启蒙运动将辩论的焦点集中于以儒家学说为基础的中国体系的"合理性"上。因此,一种或多种关于中国的传说就如在欧洲其他国家一样在意大利滋生出来。我们将介绍几种观点,其中从无条件的赞美到苛刻的批判都有。意大利的作家们参与了欧洲关于中国问题的论战并考察了最新出版的关于中国的著作。我们可以把他们分为三类:"亲华者"、"排华者",及以调和的方法破除关于中国的早期传说者。     

Protest avatars as memetic signifiers: political profile pictures and the construction of collective identity on social media in the 2011 protest wave

Protest avatars, digital images that act as collective symbols for protest movements, have been widely used by supporters of the 2011 protest wave, from Egypt to Spain and the United States. From photos of Egyptian martyr Khaled Said, to protest posters and multiple variations of Anonymous' mask, a great variety of images have been adopted as profile pictures by Internet users to express their support for various causes and protest movements and communicate it to all their Internet peers. In this article, I explore protest avatars as forms of identification of protest movements in a digital era. I argue that protest avatars can be described as ‘memetic signifiers’ because (a) they are marked by a vagueness and inclusivity that distinguishes them from traditional protest symbols and (b) lend themselves to be used as memes for viral diffusion on social networks. In adopting these icons, participants experience a collective fusion in an online crowd, whose gathering is manifested in the very ‘masking’ of participants behind protest avatars. These forms of collective identification, while powerful in the short term, can however prove quite volatile, with Internet users often discarding avatars with relative ease, raising the question whether they can provide durable foundational elements of contemporary social movements.