Structural empowerment,psychological empowerment,and work engagement: A cross-country study

In this cross-country study we drew on job demands-resources theory to investigate whether psychological empowerment mediates the positive association between structural empowerment and work engagement and, consequently, task performance and intention to quit. A total of 1033 employees working in the service sector in Spain (N = 515) and the United Kingdom (N = 518) participated in the study. Multi-group structural equation modeling analyses revealed that psychological empowerment partially mediated the positive relationship between structural empowerment and work engagement, and that work engagement associated positively with task performance and negatively with intention to quit. Invariance analyses suggested that the positive link between psychological empowerment and work engagement was stronger for employees working in the UK than in Spain, providing support for partial structural invariance of the hypothesized model. These findings suggest that psychological empowerment is an underlying mechanism that may explain why structural empowerment relates positively to work engagement with implications for theory (i.e., extend the nomological network of the investigated constructs) and management practice (e.g., emphasize the role of structural empowerment for work design).     

Feminist and empowerment theory and social work practice

Feminist and empowerment theories are especially important to the understanding of individual and sociopolitical levels of social work assessment and intervention. Incorporating feminist and empowerment approaches in practice will provide social workers with the knowledge, values and skills most likely to promote human rights and social justice. In this paper, we present an overview of both theories and illustrate them with a case example.     

Uneasy passages between neoliberalism and feminism: Social inclusion and financialization in Israel's empowerment microfinance

This article focuses on feminist non‐governmental organizations advocating for economic empowerment of women (EEW) through microfinance, using Israel as a case study. Through fieldwork, interviews and documents, we investigate the institutional practices, cultural discourses and struggles that EEWs develop in order to expose the particular ways in which feminist organizations interact with the world of finance and state institutions. Our analysis points to the complex power dynamics of mediation, suggesting that there are ‘uneasy passages' between neoliberalism and feminism, ones that help re‐signify the meaning of financial discourses while re‐politicizing women's social and economic exclusions. Simultaneously, however, this relation induces a series of compromises, whereby EEWs adopt neoliberal modes of governance. Rejecting the notion that contemporary feminism has simply been co‐opted by neoliberalism or the perception of EEW microfinance as a mere expansion of neoliberal rationalities, we reveal new sites and ways in which feminism both colludes and collides with neoliberalism.     

结构功能视角中的少数民族妇女外流——以凉山彝族为例

少数民族妇女外流对流出地社会和少数民族本身的生存与发展带来的全方位影响值得关注。本文运用结构功能论的视角，以凉山地区彝族妇女外流为例，将这一中现层面的社会问题嵌入到彝族农村的宏现社会结构之中，分析妇女外流对彝族社会的人口结构、经济结构、婚姻家庭结构、文化结构等诸方面所造成的压力．剖析妇女外流现象对凉山彝族地区所产生的深远影响。     

Causal inference with generalized structural mean models

Summary.  We estimate cause–effect relationships in empirical research where exposures are not completely controlled, as in observational studies or with patient non-compliance and self-selected treatment switches in randomized clinical trials. Additive and multiplicative structural mean models have proved useful for this but suffer from the classical limitations of linear and log-linear models when accommodating binary data. We propose the generalized structural mean model to overcome these limitations. This is a semiparametric two-stage model which extends the structural mean model to handle non-linear average exposure effects. The first-stage structural model describes the causal effect of received exposure by contrasting the means of observed and potential exposure-free outcomes in exposed subsets of the population. For identification of the structural parameters, a second stage 'nuisance' model is introduced. This takes the form of a classical association model for expected outcomes given observed exposure. Under the model, we derive estimating equations which yield consistent, asymptotically normal and efficient estimators of the structural effects. We examine their robustness to model misspecification and construct robust estimators in the absence of any exposure effect. The double-logistic structural mean model is developed in more detail to estimate the effect of observed exposure on the success of treatment in a randomized controlled blood pressure reduction trial with self-selected non-compliance.     

基于因果关系的教育研究方法思考

探索、检验因果关系是教育科学研究的重要目标之一,相关分析、回归分析、路径分析等常用统计方法存在许多不足。结构方程模型是针对这些不足提出来的,从统计思路上,它具有优点,但还不够完善,应引起我国教育学界的注意。     

The status of women among the scheduled tribes in India

The scheduled tribes constitute about 8.2% of the total population in India. Although there is a large volume of anthropological literature describing the characteristics of and differences among the various tribes in India, little inter-disciplinary research has been done to uncover the status of women among the tribal population in India. This paper will analyze the status of women among the scheduled tribes in India. Frequent comparisons will be made to the social and cultural practices of the scheduled tribes, mainstream Hindus, as well as the scheduled caste population. Through this analysis, we will show the distinctiveness of the tribal cultures and the fact that many women from the scheduled tribes face less discrimination than Hindu women and those from scheduled castes.     

浅谈综合英语课中学生能力的培养

综合英语课是最具有中国特色的英语专业基础骨干课程。它课时多、周期长、影响大 ,是各门课程的龙头。如今 ,应试教育正向素质教育转轨 ,而能力培养则是核心内容。信息时代的综合英语课应该以培养学生能力为突破口 ,积极开创教学新局面 ,以期教学质量的提高     

《诗经》叙事艺术特征阐释

叙事艺术在《诗经》中体现充分、反映显赫。本文从《诗经》所特有的现实主义诗风主题追求 ,以及叙事艺术的结构模式在《诗经》中体现两方面对叙事艺术特征进行阐释。也就是在题材和体裁两方面进行阐释 ,在题材上 ,表现出反映社会政治、人事、婚姻、爱情等方面内容。在体裁上 ,主要表现方式体现在叙事的抒发型、情节型、记实型这三类诗歌中。勾画出了叙事艺术在《诗经》中的轮廓 ,总结了叙事艺术在《诗经》中存在的方式。     

Detecting parameter shift in garch models

This paper applies recent theories of testing for parameter constancy to the conditional variance in a GARCH model. The supremum Lagrange multiplier test for conditional Gaussian GARCH models and its robustified variants are discussed. The asymptotic null distribution of the test statistics are derived from the weak convergence of the scores, and the critical values from the hitting probability of squared Bessel process.

Monte Carlo studies on the finite sample size and power performance of the supremum LM tests are conducted. Applications of these tests to S&P 500 indicate that the hypothesis of stable conditional variance parameters can be rejected.