Acting on the Body of the Audience

This paper studies the particularly restrictive context of patriarchal culture against the backdrop of the political dictatorship in Portugal in the middle of the twentieth century, in terms of its moral hegemony and the rigid boundaries that it imposed on gender roles. It is within this context that media reception was forced to find a space for interaction with everyday life. Based on biographic interviews with women born in the first decades of the Estado Novo dictatorship (1933–1974), some modes of receiving radio and television are discussed, along with the extent to which they constituted an adaptation of the then “new media” to deeply internalised censorship regimes of female and male behaviours and relationships between the genders. Further to the institutional censorship that strictly filtered content in the media in accordance with the regime’s official ideology, there was also, on the reception side, a system of stipulated, conditioned, and supervised practices that were marked by social and symbolic censorship producing what we call “gender-based censorship.” The analysis provides a new way of understanding the contexts inherited in the formation of our current identities, in terms of potential for women’s emancipation.     

Risk factors of severity of abuse against older women in the home setting: A multinational European study

ABSTRACT

This article examines the ecological risk factors of abuse against older women. Data from 2,880 older women were randomly collected in five European countries (Austria, Belgium, Finland, Lithuania, and Portugal) using a standardized questionnaire. Results indicate that overall 30.1 % older women had at least one experience of abuse in the past year. The findings demonstrate that a single emphasis on personal risk factors (e.g., health, coping) is important but too simple: Abuse is multifaceted and is embedded in environmental (e.g., loneliness, household income) as well as macrocultural contexts (e.g., old age dependency ratio).     

Improving supply chain responsiveness through Advanced Manufacturing Technology: the mediating role of internal and external integration

Abstract

Responsiveness is one of the key performance factors that firms need to face up to the challenges posed by today’s markets. Many manufacturing firms are investing in advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) with a view to improving competitiveness. However, empirical evidence shows that investments in AMT alone do not lead to improvements in performance. In this study, a model that links AMT implementation and responsiveness through internal integration and external integration is proposed. A sample of 441 Spanish industrial companies was used to test the model through structural equation modelling. The findings highlight that internal integration needs to be supplemented with external integration in order to ensure that the implementation of AMT will result in improved responsiveness. Supply chain managers should focus on integration within the supply chain – firstly internal and later external – to obtain returns on investments in AMT in the form of improved flexibility and more reliable and faster deliveries.     

Statistical theory of shape under elliptical models via QR decomposition

The statistical shape theory via QR decomposition and based on Gaussian and isotropic models is extended in this paper to the families of non-isotropic elliptical distributions. The new shape distributions are easily computable and then the inference procedure can be studied with the resulting exact densities. An application in Biology is studied under two Kotz models, the best distribution (non-Gaussian) is selected by using a modified Bayesian information criterion (BIC)*.     

Manufacturing feature-based cost management system: a case study in Brazil

Feature costing is a topic of recent discussion related to cost management systems (CMSs) aimed at understanding how product features influence production process costs. It raises as a key issue in mass customisation environments where a single product model can present hundreds of menu options. In this study, we explore the concept of feature costing beyond the use of activity-based costing (ABC). We propose a CMS based on features and common elements as costing objects instead of products. In our model, we use the unit of production effort method to organise the direct manufacturing costs, ABC method to address the indirect cost and the standard methods to compute raw materials costs. We illustrate the method in the production of bus seats in a Brazilian manufacturing company. This study gives different perspectives to the international academic community on the use of a different CMS used by many Brazilian companies.     

The Impact of Corporate Reputation on Firm Risk: A Panel Data Analysis of Spanish Quoted Firms

Researchers have traditionally addressed the influence of corporate reputation on firm performance, but have not considered the influence of corporate reputation on firm risk. This research develops hypotheses regarding the opposing influence of corporate reputation on a firm's systematic risk, unsystematic risk and total risk, as well as the moderation effect of firm size and industry concentration. Using a panel data method, these relationships are analysed, controlling for the effects of endogeneity, for a sample of Spanish quoted firms in the period 2001–2007. Specifically, two complementary analyses are performed. The first distinguishes firms included and not included in the MERCO index of the most reputable firms. The second analyses the impact of corporate reputation for the sub‐sample of most reputable firms. Being reputable reduces a firm's unsystematic risk and total risk, but increases systematic risk. In addition, firm size weakens these influences of corporate reputation on firm risk. However, among the most reputable firms, differences in reputation score have a lower effect on risk. Specifically, the corporate reputation level only influences firm unsystematic risk. It seems that what matters is not the degree of corporate reputation, but whether being or not being reputable is the question in terms of risk.     

Positive Affect and Career Decision‐Making: The Moderating Role of Interpersonal Spin

We investigated the moderating role of interpersonal spin in the relationships between positive affect, career decision self‐efficacy (CDSE), and career indecision among young adults (16 women, 79 men). Interpersonal spin was calculated using the diary method, wherein students reported their daily interpersonal behaviors for 14 consecutive days. Results indicated that positive affect was positively associated with CDSE and negatively associated with career indecision. Interpersonal spin diminished the positive relationship between positive affect and CDSE and the negative relationship between positive affect and career indecision. Our findings extend prior studies by uncovering the influence of positive affect and behavioral stability, including interpersonal spin, on the career decision process. Counselors are encouraged to foster individuals' positive affect and reduce their interpersonal spin to obtain positive career outcomes, such as high CDSE and low career indecision.     

Lifetime estimation from doubly censored data and dirichlet process prior knowledge on the observable random vector

The purpose of this paper is to present a nonparametric Bayesian procedure for estimating a survival curve in a double censoring situation. Assuming a proportional hazard rates model, we propose a consistent estimation of lifetime, based on a Dirichlet process prior knowledge on the observable random vector. Some large sample properties of this estimator are also derived, We prove strong consistency and asymptotic weak convergence to a Gaussian pro cess. Finally, a simulation study is presented in order to analyze the behavior of the proposed estimator, and establish some comparisons to other estimators.     

Nonparametric estimation of survival functions for doubly censored observations when the lifetime hazard rate is proportionally related to the censoring hazard rates

Let T, X and Y be non-negative random variables, where T is the time of occurrence of an event of interest, X and Y being the lefl and right censoring variables respectively.

In this paper we propose a nonparametric estimator of the survival function, ST, when T, X and Y are supposed to be independent and their corresponding hazard rates are proportionally related. In this way, our results extend Ebrahimi's work (1985) to the doubly censored data case.