Liminality and learning: international placements as a rite of passage

This article reports findings from a collaborative study of UK student learning in Malaysia. We analyze the concept of liminality as a means of understanding the transitional process between states and statuses that social work students experience in practice learning. Here, in specific reference to immersion in new cultural contexts represented by international placements, the development and learning of students are explored in relation to the overlapping domains of familiar and unfamiliar ‘cultures’ and disciplinary practice. These findings carry implications in terms of the increasing popularity of international placements and the potential imposition of hegemonies of values and knowledge.     

The location-routing problem with simultaneous pickup and delivery: Formulations and a heuristic approach

In this paper, we consider a variant of the Location-Routing Problem (LRP), namely the LRP with simultaneous pickup and delivery (LRPSPD). The LRPSPD seeks to minimize total cost by simultaneously locating the depots and designing the vehicle routes that satisfy pickup and delivery demand of each customer at the same time. We propose two polynomial-size mixed integer linear programming formulations for the problem and a family of valid inequalities to strengthen the formulations. While the first formulation is a node-based formulation, the second one is a flow-based formulation. Furthermore, we propose a two-phase heuristic approach based on simulated annealing, tp_SA, to solve the large-size LRPSPD and two initialization heuristics to generate an initial solution for the tp_SA. We then empirically evaluate the strengths of the proposed formulations with respect to their ability to find optimal solutions or strong lower bounds, and investigate the performance of the proposed heuristic approach. Computational results show that the flow-based formulation performs better than the node-based formulation in terms of the solution quality and the computation time on small-size problems. However, the node-based formulation can yield competitive lower bounds in a reasonable amount of time on medium-size problems. Meantime, the proposed heuristic approach is computationally efficient in finding good quality solutions for the LRPSPD.     

Does Corporate Culture Affect Bank Risk‐Taking? Evidence from Loan‐Level Data

Using comprehensive corporate and retail loan data, we show that the corporate culture of banks explains their risk‐taking behaviour. Banks whose corporate culture leans towards aggressive competition are associated with riskier lending practices: higher approval rate, lower borrower quality, and fewer covenant requirements. Consequently, these banks incur larger loan losses and make greater contributions to systemic risk. The opposite behaviour is observed among banks whose culture emphasizes control and safety. Our findings cannot be explained by heterogeneity in a bank's business model, CEO compensation incentives or CEO characteristics. We use an exogenous shock to the US banking system during the 1998 Russian default crisis to support a causal inference.     

Women’s empowerment and its effect on community development in Oman: predictive model and indicators for best practices

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the level of women’s empowerment in Omani society from the point of view of female university students from three public universities with respect to educational opportunity, equality in employment and their social status in the community. The study proposes a model for how to empower women based on the perceptions of university females and the factors that must be considered for improving the status of women in Oman. The model also provides indicators for social and community practices using confirmatory factor analysis and Path Analysis to determine pertinent factors and their effects on women’s development. The results showed a strong direct effect of women’s empowerment in Oman on community development. Despite the latest developments in Oman, as long as cultural rigidity remains, tradition upholds a conservative viewpoint of women, and families adhere to their uncompromised principles, women will remain subordinated by these factors according to the viewpoint of participants. This study concludes with recommendations for further research, including enrolment of females in all areas of specialisation creating more job opportunities for women, encouraging women’s leadership, and additional education of women’s rights and needs.     

Integrating Computational Thinking into Social Studies

Abstract

Computational Thinking (CT) has recently been addressed as one of the key skills for the twenty-first century. Integrating CT into different subject areas of K-12 education is also now widely accepted to improve the quality of instruction. In that sense, it is important to enable educators and researchers to recognize how to integrate computational thinking into K-12 classrooms and to study how students learn to think computationally in social studies courses. Besides, providing good practice on CT helps to develop common ground for the teaching of computational thinking in social studies subject areas. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for social studies teachers with regard to how CT can be integrated into K-12 classrooms for social studies. Moreover, a practical implementation idea is also suggested based on this framework. This paper is expected to provide an insight to social studies teachers who want to integrate CT into their classroom in the future and support them in teaching context.     

Identifying the Components of Social Capital by Categorical Principal Component Analysis (CATPCA)

Social Indicators Research - Social capital is a promising concept, widely used by social science researchers in analysing factors that contribute to the persistence of various economic issues....     

Androgen deficiency in the adult male

Introduction. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between severity of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), erectile dysfunction (ED) and metabolic syndrome.

Methods. Our study population included a consecutive series of 190 patients with LUTS (International Prostate Symptom Score-IPSS >7) with or without manifestations of the metabolic syndrome. The diagnoses of diabetes mellitus and hypertension were obtained from the patient's medical history. Data on blood pressure, waist measure, body height and weight were collected and body mass index were calculated. Patients were assessed based on the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) for ED and IPSS and IPSS-Quality of Life for LUTS. Blood samples were drawn from fasting patients to determine, fasting blood glucose (FBG), triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol and serum total testosterone levels.

Results. In severe LUTS patient group, IIEF erectile function domain scores were significantly lower than moderate LUTS patient group (p < 0.05). Multiple logistic regression analysis confirmed that presence of ED was the most predictor of severe LUTS. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was higher in patients with severe LUTS (26%vs. 46%, p = 0.009). The severe form of the LUTS was significantly correlated with waist circumference >102 cm (p < 0.05), blood pressure ≥130/85 mmHg (p < 0.05) and FBG >110 mg/dl (p < 0.01).

Conclusion. Obesity, high plasma level of FBG and hypertension constitute risk factors for the development of severe LUTS. Metabolic syndrome may play a key role in the pathogenesis in both ED and LUTS. Presence of ED is the most predictor of severe LUTS.     

Related party transactions and audit fees: the role of the internal audit function

Related party transactions (RPTs) are viewed as genuine transactions that rationally fulfil other economic demands of a company. However, RPTs can also be used to transfer wealth from minority shareholders to controlling shareholders. The existence of such transactions may deteriorate financial reporting quality, increase audit risk, and as a result increase audit fees. This study examines the relationship between RPTs and audit fees in Malaysia, where ownership is often concentrated within a controlling family and corporate governance mechanisms are poor. It also investigates the moderating effect of the internal audit function (IAF) on this relationship. We find that external auditors base their fees on the types of RPTs undertaken. Specifically, our results show that audit fees are higher for firms that undertake RPTs involving the sale and purchase of assets, goods, and services. We also document that external auditors rely on the IAF, and thus their fees are lower for firms that undertake RPTs and that have made a large investment in an IAF. Our study is the first to provide evidence that RPTs in Malaysian firms may be abused as a channel to facilitate tunnelling and that the IAF plays a vital role in controlling such transactions.     

Bayesian and fiducial inference for the inverse gaussian distribution via Gibbs sampler

This paper presents a kernel estimation of the distribution of the scale parameter of the inverse Gaussian distribution under type II censoring together with the distribution of the remaining time. Estimation is carried out via the Gibbs sampling algorithm combined with a missing data approach. Estimates and confidence intervals for the parameters of interest are also presented.     

The mutual sequential mate search model under nonhomogenous preferences

This paper extends the Todd and Miller’s mutual sequential mate search model with homogenous preferences to the case of non-homogenous preferences. Our simulations show that the size of heterogeneity in the preferences affects the performance rankings -as well as the absolute success levels- of the mate search heuristics in the model with respect to both mating likelihood and mating stability. In particular, we find that mate search heuristics that are more egalitarian in setting aspirations become more successful under sufficiently heterogenous preferences.