Planners’ Perceptions of Why Canadian Communities Have Too Many Plans

A survey of Canadian planners explored perceptions about factors contributing to the growing number of plans communities have adopted recently. The results suggest that practitioners see themselves as responding to current community concerns, as well as to requirements imposed by higher levels of government. Neoliberal practices that force compliance with accountability frameworks to enable transfer payments increase demands for new plans. Professional practices within planning have encouraged specialization—in fields such as urban design—that often leads to plan-making activities. With many plans to coordinate, and limited staff resources and time available, practitioners face increasing implementation challenges.     

The beta skew-generalized normal distribution

In this article, we develop the skew-generalized normal distribution introduced by Arellano-Valle et al. (2004 Arellano-Valle, R.B., Gomez, H.W., Quintana, F.A. (2004). A new class of skew-normal distribution. Commun. Stat. - Theory Methods. 33(7):1465–1480.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) to a new family of the Beta skew-generalized normal (BSGN) distribution . Here, we present some theorems and properties of BSGN distribution and obtain its moment-generating function.     

Migrant women farm workers in the occupational health literature

Little attention has been given to the vulnerable populations of migrant women agricultural workers. A systemic review in PubMed was carried out (1990-2008) using terms related to migrant agricultural workers, with specific focus on women. Case studies from Lebanon and California are presented to highlight key physical, psychosocial, and cultural risk factors among these working populations. The review revealed a host of potential problems that span from pesticide exposure and musculoskeletal disorders to socio-cultural barriers. Comprehensive exposure-outcome and intervention studies focusing specifically on migrant women in agriculture are lacking. In depth studies focusing on the work environment of migrant women workers in the agricultural sector are needed. Personal and environmental factors that influence health should be considered in any effective intervention aiming to influence policy making and have a positive impact on these vulnerable working populations.     

Do auditors’ perceptions actually help fight against fraudulent practices? Evidence from Tunisia

The purpose of this paper is focused on investigating empirically how Tunisian Auditors perceive their status regarding fraud fighting issue. In this respect, a set of auditor-associated mental representations will be expressed in terms of their respective roles as relevant governance models (legal versus ethical ones), via the cognitive mapping technique. The findings reveal that corporate governance can be globally depicted within these particular representations, indicating the supremacy of the legal governance approach over the ethical one with regard to the Tunisian case. .     

AN ANALYSIS OF SHAREHOLDER AGREEMENTS

Shareholder agreements govern the relations among shareholders in privately held firms, such as joint ventures and venture capital‐backed companies. We provide an economic explanation for key clauses in such agreements—namely, put and call options, tag‐along and drag‐along rights, demand and piggy‐back rights, and catch‐up clauses. In a dynamic moral hazard setting, we show that these clauses can ensure that the contract parties make efficient ex ante investments in the firm. They do so by constraining renegotiation. In the absence of the clauses, ex ante investment would be distorted by unconstrained renegotiation aimed at (i) precluding value‐destroying ex post transfers, (ii) inducing value‐increasing ex post investments, or (iii) precluding hold‐out on value‐increasing sales to a trade buyer or the IPO market. (JEL: G34)     

Through the Brick Wall,and the Glass Ceiling: Women in the Civil Service in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh the disparity between male and female representation in public administration is wide. Fewer women are employed in the civil service and they figure prominently in jobs set aside for them, while executive positions are generally occupied by men. Both systemic and subjective discrimination have created obstacles for women's access to public employment. They have to surmount enormous difficulties, first to gain entry into the civil service by thwarting social and cultural barriers and competing against well‐prepared and favoured male contestants, and then fight against a variety of odds to climb up the career ladder. Public personnel management is dominated by men whose perceptions and attitudes influence the development of personnel policies with a clear male bias. This has led to women's persistent discrimination in recruitment, placement, advancement, mobility and training. Women quotas are capriciously administered and subjective discrimination serves as a barrier in their career path. The promotion system is heavily inclined towards subjectivity and generally works against them. Most women come with high expectations and are committed to and always enthusiastic about their work and keen to advance their career, but circumstances work against them.     

UNDERSTANDING THE CONTEXT OF RISK PRACTICES AMONG INJECTING DRUG USERS: IMPLICATIONS FOR HEPATITIS C PREVENTION

‘Risk’ is central to recent sociological studies of health and related behaviour, particularly in discourses about HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C (HCV). While epidemiological survey predominates over qualitative investigation in HCV risk reduction, it is necessary to move beyond individual‐level characteristics to gain a fuller understanding of the social context of risk. This paper investigates the context of HCV‐related risk behaviour among injecting drug users (IDUs) and discusses the behavioural and social determinants of risk practices. Data from 336 IDUs completing a self‐administered questionnaire were analysed. The data show that needle‐sharing practices are often integral to long‐standing relationships, particularly sexual ones. The level of drug dependency, trust relationships between partners and misconceptions about HCV transmission have been demonstrated to be associated with risk behaviour. Logistic factors, such as poor access to injecting equipment, limited hours of operation, and fear of police were given as barriers to safer injecting. Given the progression of the HCV epidemic, prevention campaigns should aim at risk reduction rather than risk elimination.     

Bayesian A- and D-optimal designs for gamma regression model with inverse link function

Bayesian optimal designs have received increasing attention in recent years, especially in biomedical and clinical trials. Bayesian design procedures can utilize the available prior information of the unknown parameters so that a better design can be achieved. With this in mind, this article considers the Bayesian A- and D-optimal designs of the two- and three-parameter Gamma regression model. In this regard, we first obtain the Fisher information matrix of the proposed model and then calculate the Bayesian A- and D-optimal designs assuming various prior distributions such as normal, half-normal, gamma, and uniform distribution for the unknown parameters. All of the numerical calculations are handled in R software. The results of this article are useful in medical and industrial researches.     

Integrating Family Therapy Training in a Clinical Psychology Course

Teaching family therapy to clinical psychology trainees is not common practice in Australian clinical psychology training programs. There is sparse discussion in the literature. Family therapy is an evidence based intervention that complements a diversity of established theories and psychotherapies and would complement the intervention skills of trainee clinical psychologists. The aim of this paper is to illustrate how family therapy training may be integrated into a postgraduate clinical psychology course. The literature on core family therapy knowledge, skills and training methods will form the backdrop to a review of specific family therapy training courses for clinical psychology trainees. This will then be mapped against a consideration of accreditation requirements of clinical psychology courses in Australia and suggestions made for integrating family therapy into their training curriculum. Anecdotal feedback from students provides an initial step toward evaluation.