Perspectives of Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse: An Exploration of the Adjustments to Self-Structure through Meaning-Making in Therapy

This critical literature review explored how adult survivors of child sexual abuse experienced adjustments to their self-structure through meaning-making in therapy. Following extensive searches of academic databases, 15 studies were identified for review. Using thematic analysis, eight themes emerged. The eight identified themes of trust, acknowledgement, evolution, acceptance, integration, congruence, relational, and agency represented distinct but interrelated components of self-structure. The findings also indicated that self-structure components may be both intra- and interrelational in nature and that movement in one theme may facilitate movement in another. While recognizing that the nature of the research captured a composite of experiences, it was found that there was a consistent movement and fluidity as to how participants arrived at an adjusted position for each of the themes. A suggested theoretical framework was developed showing the components of the self-structure impacted by meaning-making and the nature of the adjustments made. Recommendations are made regarding future research.     

Self-healing umbrella sampling: convergence and efficiency

The Self-Healing Umbrella Sampling (SHUS) algorithm is an adaptive biasing algorithm which has been proposed in Marsili et al. (J Phys Chem B 110(29):14011–14013, 2006) in order to efficiently sample a multimodal probability measure. We show that this method can be seen as a variant of the well-known Wang–Landau algorithm Wang and Landau (Phys Rev E 64:056101, 2001a; Phys Rev Lett 86(10):2050–2053, 2001b). Adapting results on the convergence of the Wang-Landau algorithm obtained in Fort et al. (Math Comput 84(295):2297–2327, 2014a), we prove the convergence of the SHUS algorithm. We also compare the two methods in terms of efficiency. We finally propose a modification of the SHUS algorithm in order to increase its efficiency, and exhibit some similarities of SHUS with the well-tempered metadynamics method Barducci et al. (Phys Rev Lett 100:020,603, 2008).     

AN OVERVIEW OF TRADEOFF CURVES IN MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS DESIGN

In this paper we review the use of tradeoff curves in the design of manufacturing systems that can be modeled as open queueing networks. We focus particularly on the tradeoff between expected work-in-process (or product leadtime) and capacity investment in job shops. We review the algorithms in the literature to derive tradeoff curves and illustrate their application in evaluating the efficiency of the system, in deciding how much capacity to have, how to allocate resources between the reduction of uncertainty and the introduction of new technologies, and how to assess the impact of changes in products throughput and product mix. The methodology is illustrated with an example derived from an actual application in the semiconductor industry.     

MODELING DIFFUSION OF MULTIPLE INNOVATIONS VIA MULTILEVEL DIFFUSION CURVES: PAYOLA IN POP MUSIC RADIO

Diffusion curve analysis can estimate whether an innovation spreads endogenously (indicated by a characteristic " s -curve") or exogenously (indicated by a characteristic negative exponential curve). Current techniques for pooling information across multiple innovations require a two-stage analysis. In this paper, we develop multilevel diffusion curve analysis, which is statistically more efficient and allows for more flexible specifications than do existing methods. To substantively illustrate this technique, we use data on bribery in pop radio as an example of exogenous influence on diffusion.     

Indicators of modern health attitudes in an urban setting: An exploration of the attitude — Behavior relationship

This paper explores the components and determinants of health attitudes that have accompanied the process of modernization in Accra. Due to the numerous failures to predict behavior from unidimensional measures of attitudes, a multidimensional approach to health attitudes was used. Factor analysis of the components revealed that this multidimensional tripartite structure of health attitudes is theoretically meaningful. Both the simple correlational and multivariate analysis of responses form a sample interview survey of 1000 women show that social, structural and community factors are important determinants of modern health attitudes; and that the influence of modern health attitudes on utilization behavior is independent of the effects of education and general modernity. The implications of these for health care delivery are discussed.     

Assessing The Impact of Managed-Care on the Distribution of Length-of-Stay Using Bayesian Hierarchical Models

Hierarchical models provide a useful framework for the complexities encountered in policy-relevant research in which the impact of social programs is being assessed. Such complexities include multi-site data, censored data and over-dispersion. In this paper, Bayesian inference through Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods is used for the analysis of a complex hierarchical log-normal model that shows the impact of a managed care strategy aimed at limiting length of hospital stays. Parameters in this model allow for variability in baseline length-of-stay as well as the program effect across hospitals. The authors demonstrate elicitation and sensitivity analysis with respect to prior distributions. All calculations for the posterior and predictive distributions were obtained using the software BUGS.     

The Burden of Labour Costs in Mexico

Abstract. We analysed labour costs in Mexico and evaluated their impact in terms of firm performance. Using a new survey, we studied how firms chose to conduct a firing procedure (i.e. mandatory payment, negotiation, or legal dispute) and the actual costs derived from that decision. We found that firms that negotiate have, on average, lower costs. This may mean that workers subvaluate the legal benefits. Moreover, legal disputes may increase firing costs by 50 per cent. We contributed to the analysis of the impact of such costs on employment and found that, when firms negotiate or pay higher costs, this decreases the level of employment. We also analysed the impact of Social Benefits on employment using an industrial survey. We found that a 10 per cent increment in these benefits may have a negative long‐term impact of 9 per cent on the level of employment.     

Hazardous Times for Monetary Policy: What Do Twenty‐Three Million Bank Loans Say About the Effects of Monetary Policy on Credit Risk‐Taking?

We identify the effects of monetary policy on credit risk‐taking with an exhaustive credit register of loan applications and contracts. We separate the changes in the composition of the supply of credit from the concurrent changes in the volume of supply and quality, and the volume of demand. We employ a two‐stage model that analyzes the granting of loan applications in the first stage and loan outcomes for the applications granted in the second stage, and that controls for both observed and unobserved, time‐varying, firm and bank heterogeneity through time*firm and time*bank fixed effects. We find that a lower overnight interest rate induces lowly capitalized banks to grant more loan applications to ex ante risky firms and to commit larger loan volumes with fewer collateral requirements to these firms, yet with a higher ex post likelihood of default. A lower long‐term interest rate and other relevant macroeconomic variables have no such effects.