GENDER DIFFERENCES IN JOB AUTONOMY:

This research investigates the impact of gender, occupational segregation, and authority position on various forms of job autonomy. The empirical analysis was guided by theoretical concerns over the relevance of occupational characteristics and authority position in explaining the gender gap in job autonomy. Ordinary Least Squares regression results show that after taking various individual and employment-related factors into account, authority position, but not female-dominated occupation, explains a large portion of the gender gap in the degree of job autonomy. Furthermore, logistic regressions indicate that no gender differences in the likelihood of having any of five components of job autonomy remain, after taking all other factors in the model into account. It is concluded that authority position at work is more instrumental in explaining the gender gap in job autonomy than the gender composition of occupations.     

Evaluating multidisciplinary child abuse and neglect teams: a research agenda

A review of child welfare research literature reveals used to investigate and intervene in child abuse and neglect cases, the field does not know enough about their structural variations, implementation processes, or effectiveness. Moreover, although articles advocating multidisciplinary teams enumerate their apparent strengths, they lack attention to the teams' possible weaknesses. The article discusses implications for future evaluation studies.     

Bayesian analysis of generalized elliptical semi-parametric models

In this paper, we study the statistical inference based on the Bayesian approach for regression models with the assumption that independent additive errors follow normal, Student-t, slash, contaminated normal, Laplace or symmetric hyperbolic distribution, where both location and dispersion parameters of the response variable distribution include nonparametric additive components approximated by B-splines. This class of models provides a rich set of symmetric distributions for the model error. Some of these distributions have heavier or lighter tails than the normal as well as different levels of kurtosis. In order to draw samples of the posterior distribution of the interest parameters, we propose an efficient Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm, which combines Gibbs sampler and Metropolis–Hastings algorithms. The performance of the proposed MCMC algorithm is assessed through simulation experiments. We apply the proposed methodology to a real data set. The proposed methodology is implemented in the R package BayesGESM using the function gesm().     

Patterns of plant species diversity in deciduous woodlands of Kyiv,Ukraine

Urban Ecosystems - The present study is aimed at exploring native and alien plant species diversity patterns in distinct types of the urban forest environment by documenting differences in species...     

FIRM SURVIVAL,UNCERTAINTY, AND FINANCIAL FRICTIONS: IS THERE A FINANCIAL UNCERTAINTY ACCELERATOR?

Using a large panel of unquoted UK firms over the period 2000–2009, we examine the impact of firm‐specific uncertainty on corporate failures. In this context we also distinguish between firms which are likely to be more or less dependent on bank finance as well as public and nonpublic companies. Our results document a significant effect of uncertainty on firm survival. This link is found to be more potent during the recent financial crisis compared with tranquil periods. We also uncover significant firm‐level heterogeneity because the survival chances of bank‐dependent and nonpublic firms are most affected by changes in uncertainty, especially during the recent global financial crisis. (JEL E44, F32, F34, G32)     

Infant‐directed speech to infants at risk for dyslexia: A novel cross‐dyad design

When mothers speak to infants at risk for developmental dyslexia, they do not hyperarticulate vowels in their infant‐directed speech (IDS). Here, we used an innovative cross‐dyad design to investigate whether the absence of vowel hyperarticulation in IDS to at‐risk infants is a product of maternal infant‐directed behavior or of infants’ parent‐directed cues. Interactions between mothers and infants who were at risk or not at risk for dyslexia were recorded in three conditions: when mothers interacted with (a) their own infants, (b) infants who were not their own but of the same risk status, and (c) infants who were not their own and of the opposite risk status. This design revealed both infant and parent effects. Mothers of not‐at‐risk infants hyperarticulated vowels significantly more when speaking to not‐at‐risk than to at‐risk infants. In contrast, mothers of at‐risk infants hyperarticulated vowels significantly less than NAR mothers, and this was irrespective of infant status. Mothers of not‐at‐risk infants thus adjusted their IDS to the infant's risk status, while mothers of at‐risk infants did not. We suggest that IDS is determined reciprocally by characteristics of both partners in the dyad: Both infant and maternal factors are essential for the vowel hyperarticulation component of IDS.     

Order test for high-dimensional two-sample means

We propose a new method to test the order between two high-dimensional mean curves. The new statistic extends the approach of Follmann (1996) to high-dimensional data by adapting the strategy of Bai and Saranadasa (1996). The proposed procedure is an alternative to the non-negative basis matrix factorization (NBMF) based test of Lee et al. (2008) for the same hypothesis, but it is much easier to implement. We derive the asymptotic mean and variance of the proposed test statistic under the null hypothesis of equal mean curves. Based on theoretical results, we put forward a permutation procedure to approximate the null distribution of the new test statistic. We compare the power of the proposed test with that of the NBMF-based test via simulations. We illustrate the approach by an application to tidal volume traces.     

(In)(Out)Sider(s): White Immigrant PhD Students Reflecting on their Teaching Experience

This article focuses on personal accounts of the early experiences of two white immigrant PhD students with teaching responsibility at a Canadian university. The authors use auto-ethnography to reflect on the intersection of ‘whiteness’ and immigrant status and critically examine the teaching and learning dynamics of the university classroom. Using the lens of feminist intersectional theory, we argue that the processes of identity construction (both personal and professional) experienced by white immigrant novice instructors follow the tenets of social construction of immigrants as the ‘Other’ and show that our position as outsiders undermines our ability to actively attend to diversity in the classroom. We conclude by recommending strategies for transformation and enhancement of the dialogue between immigrant instructors and students within a supportive university environment.     

Jewish tradition faces the Soviet economy: moral dilemma of ‘shadow’ entrepreneurship in the former Pale of Settlement,Ukraine

Soviet life in the former Pale of Settlement appears in the memories of its residents as a world of living Jewish tradition existing within the professional and business activities of artisans and merchants at a time when the ideology and political structure of the Soviet Union prohibited private enterprise. That is why it occupied the shady parts of the socialist economy. Today, after collapse of the Soviet Union, it still poses moral dilemmas for those associated with its illegal activities. However, recollections about Soviet illegal enterprise also provide a space for critique of the Soviet system and a base for construction of contemporary local identity; in this way people reconcile the economic ethics of the recent Soviet past with modern capitalist reality. Narratives about illegal economic activities in the Soviet period are about the relationship between the people and the state. They are seen as a cosmological system; the Soviet state acted as an economically ineffective external force. Within its matrix was integrated a local world of human relationships with their customs and rules created the own local world of consumption and welfare. At the centre of this space is the socially and economically experienced Jewish entrepreneur whose competence is based on local Jewish tradition. Stories about illegal Soviet economic activity have become the heritage of local communities that approve of local business continuity.     

Effects of Three Caregiver Interventions: Support,Educational Literature,and Creative Movement

The primary focus of this study is to compare the effectiveness of three distinct intervention techniques in relieving some of the stress experienced by midlife daughters' caregiving for their frail mothers. The three techniques are: (a) a home-based literature “tip of the week” group, (b) a caregiver's support group, and (c) a creative-movement group. Based on a review of caregiving literature, no other studies have utilized a home-based literature intervention or a creative-movement intervention with midlife daughters providing informal care to frail mothers. As part of the weekly assessment evaluation, participants were asked to rate how helpful the previous week's session was with respect to five mental health variables: irritability, depression, anxiety, stress, and concentration. Overall, the support-based group had higher average scores for each of the five mental health variables and the highest overall mental health score. Future research and promising applications of future intervention programs are discussed.