Feeling well while chronically ill or impaired: a multilevel study on the moderating role of employment and volunteering in Europe

People with a chronic condition tend to report poorer subjective well-being than people without. This article examines the dependence of the relationship on doing paid and voluntary work, and on macro-level labour market exclusion of people with and without chronic conditions. Data from the European Quality of Life Survey (2011–2012) of people aged between 25 and 65 are analysed using multilevel regression techniques. A chronic condition has a stronger negative effect on subjective well-being for persons who are economically inactive or who never engage in voluntary work. The importance of paid work, however, varies with national levels of labour exclusion.     

试论政府信息主动公开行为的司法审查

我国《政府信息公开条例》突出了主动公开在信息公开领域的积极作用,强调了政府主动公开信息的原则。但现实表明,我国政府信息并未真正处于阳光之下,有必要借鉴国外有关主动公开政府信息的有益经验,结合我国实情,完善我国政府信息主动公开制度,以望早日实现政府信息公开的价值目标,实现＂阳光政府＂建设。     

Flexible objective Bayesian linear regression with applications in survival analysis

We study objective Bayesian inference for linear regression models with residual errors distributed according to the class of two-piece scale mixtures of normal distributions. These models allow for capturing departures from the usual assumption of normality of the errors in terms of heavy tails, asymmetry, and certain types of heteroscedasticity. We propose a general non-informative, scale-invariant, prior structure and provide sufficient conditions for the propriety of the posterior distribution of the model parameters, which cover cases when the response variables are censored. These results allow us to apply the proposed models in the context of survival analysis. This paper represents an extension to the Bayesian framework of the models proposed in [16]. We present a simulation study that shows good frequentist properties of the posterior credible intervals as well as point estimators associated to the proposed priors. We illustrate the performance of these models with real data in the context of survival analysis of cancer patients.     

Why do participants in voluntary organizations leave? Exploring the relationship between value congruence and length of stay

Recognizing the importance of values and the specific characteristics of participants and situations in voluntary organizations, we examine how value congruence—the fit or compatibility of values between participants and the organization, or among participants—interacts with personal and situational factors to predict participants' length of stay in their organizations. Introducing the case of a voluntary organization that offers shared housing, we measure value congruence through textual similarity in the self‐introduction documents of 49 participants and the organization's mission statement. This approach differs from the self‐reported measures based on participants' perceptions or recalled interactions used in previous studies. In line with expectation‐disconfirmation theory, participants with the strongest beliefs in organizational values had shorter lengths of stay. The amount of intraorganizational communication also moderated the relationship between value congruence and length of stay. This study provides theoretical and methodological implications for nonprofit management by considering personal and situational factors and evaluating value congruence by textual similarity.     

略论中国远征军第一次入缅作战及其失败的原因——纪念中国远征军出国作战70周年

第二次世界大战期间,中国作为同盟国的一员不仅在本土牵制和消耗了绝大多数日军,而且还在英美盟国的邀请下,组织中国远征军开赴缅甸与英美盟国共同作战,为世界反法西斯战争的胜利做出了杰出的贡献。在第一次入缅作战中,中国远征军在仁安羌成功解救英军,同古保卫战中重创日军等战绩轰动了世界,让世人充分认识到了中国是世界反法西斯统一战线的一支重要力量。但是,由于同盟国在缅甸战场的合作过程中存在全球战略目标、中英战略矛盾、中英联军配合不力、分歧和矛盾及中国远征军将领失职等原因,致使中国远征军第一次入缅作战失败而告终。     

Could gonadal and adrenal androgen deficiencies contribute to the depressive symptoms in men with systolic heart failure?

Background: Testosterone (TT) and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS) are neurosteroids and their deficiencies constitute the hormone risk factors promoting the development of depression in elderly otherwise healthy men. We investigated the link between hypogonadism and depression in accordance with age and concomitant diseases in men with systolic HF using the novel scale previously dedicated for elderly population.

Methods: We analysed the prevalence of depression and severity of depressive symptoms in population of 226 men with systolic HF (40–80 years) compared to 379 healthy peers. The severity of depression was assessed using the Polish long version of Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS).

Results: In men aged 40–59 years the severity of depressive symptoms was greater in NYHA classes III–IV compared to NYHA classes I–II and reference group. In men aged 60–80 years depressive symptoms were more severe in NYHA class III-IV compared to controls (all p?≤?0.001). In multivariate logistic regression model in men aged 40–59 years advanced NYHA class was associated with higher prevalence of mild depression (OR?=?2.14, 95%CI: 1.07–4.29) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with higher prevalence of severe depression (OR?=?69.1, 95%CI: 2.11–2264.3). In men aged 60–80 years advanced NYHA class and TT deficiency were related to higher prevalence of mild depression (respectively: OR?=?2.9, 95%CI: 1.3–6.4; OR?=?3.6, 95%CI: 1.2–10.63).

Conclusion: TT deficiency, COPD and advanced NYHA class were associated with higher prevalence of depression in men with systolic HF.     

The resources of ageing? Middle‐aged gay men's accounts of Manchester's gay voluntary organizations

Middle‐aged men's experiences of gay voluntary organizations (GVOs) are neglected in research. To address this knowledge gap, this article extends Bourdieusian theorizing beyond that deployed by Hakim (2010) and Green (2008) concerning ‘erotic capital’ to demonstrate how norms in GVOs can facilitate or frustrate mobilization of ‘ageing capital’ by middle‐aged gay men living in Manchester (UK), which has implications for comparable cities within and beyond a UK context. Based on interviews with 22 men aged 39–55, this article demonstrates how ‘ageing capital’ can facilitate challenge to gay ageism but also how such ageism can frustrate and even overwhelm men's capacities to deploy ageing capital in generic GVOs, thus reinforcing intergenerational conflict and expression of ageism towards younger gay men. In doing so, this article contributes to knowledge about the reproduction of the relations of ageism in a particular field of gay existence.     

An examination of student and provider perceptions of voluntary sector social work placements in Northern Ireland

Practice based learning in Northern Ireland is a core element of social work education and comprising 50% of the degree programme for undergraduate and postgraduate students. This article presents evidence about the perceptions of practice learning from voluntary sector/non-government organisation (NGO) placement providers and final year social work students on social work degree programmes in Northern Ireland in 2011. It draws on data from 121 respondents from189 final year students and focus group interviews with voluntary sector providers offering 16% (85) of the total placements available to students. The agencies who participated in the research study provide a total of 55 PLOs to social work students, and are therefore fairly representative in terms of voluntary sector (NGO) provision. The article locates these data in the context of practice learning pedagogy and the changes introduced by the Regional Strategy for Practice Learning Provision in Northern Ireland 2010–2015. Several themes emerged including; induction, support and guidance, practice educator/student relationship, professional identity and confidence in risk assessment and decision-making. Social work educators, placement providers and employers must be cognisant of newly qualified social workers’ needs in terms of consolidating knowledge within the formative stages of their professional development.     

Characterization of Lindley distribution by truncated moments

In the past few years, the Lindley distribution has gained popularity for modeling lifetime data as an alternative to the exponential distribution. This paper provides two new characterizations of the Lindley distribution. The first characterization is based on a relation between left truncated moments and failure rate function. The second characterization is based on a relation between right truncated moments and reversed failure rate function.