The Effects of Early Institutionalization on the Discrimination of Facial Expressions of Emotion in Young Children

The current study examined the effects of institutionalization on the discrimination of facial expressions of emotion in three groups of 42‐month‐old children. One group consisted of children abandoned at birth who were randomly assigned to Care‐as‐Usual (institutional care) following a baseline assessment. Another group consisted of children abandoned at birth who were randomly assigned to high‐quality foster care following a baseline assessment. A third group consisted of never‐institutionalized children who were reared by their biological parents. All children were familiarized to happy, sad, fearful, and neutral facial expressions and tested on their ability to discriminate familiar versus novel facial expressions. Contrary to our prediction, all three groups of children were equally capable of discriminating among the different expressions. Furthermore, in contrast to findings at 13–30 months of age, these same children showed familiarity rather than novelty preferences toward different expressions. There were also asymmetries in children’s discrimination of facial expressions depending on which facial expression served as the familiar versus novel stimulus. Collectively, early institutionalization appears not to impact the development of the ability to discriminate facial expressions of emotion, at least when preferential looking serves as the dependent measure. These findings are discussed in the context of the myriad domains that are affected by early institutionalization.     

Money Isn't Everything: Wives' Earnings and Housework Time

The autonomy perspective of housework time predicts that wives' housework time falls steadily as their earnings rise, because wives use additional financial resources to outsource or forego time in housework. We argue, however, that wives' ability to reduce their housework varies by household task. That is, we expect that increases in wives' earnings will allow them to forego or outsource some tasks, but not others. As a result, we hypothesize more rapid declines in wives' housework time for low-earning wives as their earnings increase than for high-earning wives who have already stopped performing household tasks that are the easiest and cheapest to outsource or forego. Using fixed-effects models and data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we find considerable support for our hypothesis. We further conclude that past evidence that wives who out-earn their husbands spend additional time in housework to compensate for their gender-deviant success in the labor market is due to the failure to account for the non-linear relationship between wives' absolute earnings and their housework time.     

Therapist Personal Agency: a model for examining the training context

This study reviews the creation and testing of a model of Therapist Personal Agency during MFT training. A model including self-efficacy, trainee developmental level, supervisor working alliance, family of origin relationships, and psychological states was supported by data collected from a national sample of MFT students. The model supported by the data was consistent with much of the previous research regarding the correlates of therapist self-efficacy. Furthermore, the model accounted for 20% of the variance in therapist performance as measured by therapist reports of the working alliance. The results also highlighted the importance of attending to the relationships, interactions, and experiences that take place within the training environment and secondly, the added value that may accrue from focusing on the trainee's extended network of family relationships. A brief case example serves to illustrate the importance of tending to Therapist Personal Agency. In sum, this study provides preliminary support for holistic training methods that focus upon the whole person of the therapist.     

Cycles of Adaptive Strategies Over the Life Course

An increasing number of Australia’s ageing population are aging with long-term physical impairments. This study explored the life experiences of this group using a qualitative approach. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 disabled Victorians, aged between 51 and 84 years, and an inductive thematic analysis undertaken. A relationship was found between the adaptive strategies that participants developed as they moved through life phases and the impairment stages. The implications of the emergence of a cyclical process of adaptation across the life course. and particularly in respect of aging, delivery of aged-care services and social workers in this sector are discussed.     

Subjective Welfare, Well-Being, and Self-Reported Food Hypersensitivity in Four European Countries: Implications for European Policy

This study estimates the effects of food hypersensitivity on individuals?? perceived welfare and well-being compared to non-food hypersensitive individuals. Study respondents were recruited in the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and UK. The difference in welfare between food hypersensitive respondents and those asymptomatic to foods was estimated using a subjective welfare approach, including income evaluation. Well-being was measured using the Cantril Ladder-of-Life Scale, and health status using the Self-Perceived Health Scale. The difference in well-being, welfare and health status between participant groups was explained further using a number of background variables. No significant within-country differences in welfare between food hypersensitive respondents and respondents asymptomatic to foods were found. In terms of well-being, adult food hypersensitive respondents and their spouses reported significantly less happiness than respondents and their spouses asymptomatic to foods in the Netherlands and Poland. In Spain, the spouses of the food hypersensitive respondents were significantly less happy than respondents aymptomatic to foods. The well-being of children did not significantly differ between groups. The degree of severity of food hypersensitivity was negatively related to overall health status. In Poland, food hypersensitive respondents reported worse health status compared to asymptomatic respondents. In Spain, the converse was true. Food hypersensitive respondents were generally less happy with their life as a whole than respondents asymptomatic to foods, presumably because they experienced more negative effects, which were not related to perceived health status.     

A Specialized Inventory Problem in Banks: Optimizing Retail Sweeps

Deposits held at Federal Reserve Banks are an essential input to the business activity of most depository institutions in the United States. Managing these deposits is an important and complex inventory problem for two reasons. First, Federal Reserve regulations require that depository institutions hold certain amounts of such deposits at the Federal Reserve Banks to satisfy statutory reserve requirements against customers' transaction accounts (demand deposits and other checkable deposits). Second, some inventory of such deposits is essential for banks to operate one of their core lines of business: furnishing payment services to households and firms. Because the Federal Reserve does not pay interest on such deposits used to satisfy statutory reserve requirements, banks seek to minimize their inventory of such deposits. In 1994, the banking industry introduced a new inventory management tool for such deposits, the retail deposit sweep program, which avoids the statutory requirement by reclassifying transaction deposits as savings deposits. This is an interesting inventory problem for fungible items, where the conversion process is reversible. We examine two methods for operating such sweeps programs within the limits of Federal Reserve regulations, and we develop a stochastic dynamic programming model to implement one such method, the threshold method.     

Defining and Understanding Grey Literature

Abstract

The Internet has dramatically altered how grey literature is defined. The importance, the availability, the access, and the types of grey literature have significantly increased since the days of keeping pamphlets and newspaper clippings in a vertical file. Deciding if a resource is commercially published or grey literature has become more complex and requires judgment. Knowledge of a field of study is helpful in knowing where to find or to gain insight about grey literature. For the author of this column and its readers, the resources cited by authors writing articles and columns for volumes 42 and 43 of Serials Review, published in 2016 and 2017, could be called a convenience sample. The references include data that are easily accessed and includes many resources that are developed by people, governmental agencies, and associations familiar to those working in this area of librarianship.     

Is Asian ethnicity an independent risk factor for severe perineal trauma in childbirth? A systematic review of the literature

ObjectiveTo undertake a systematic review of the literature to determine whether Asian ethnicity is an independent risk factor for severe perineal trauma in childbirth.MethodOvid Medline, CINAHL, and Cochrane databases published in English were used to identify appropriate research articles from 2000 to 2010, using relevant terms in a variety of combinations. All articles included in this systematic review were assessed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) ‘making sense of evidence’ tools.FindingsAsian ethnicity does not appear to be a risk factor for severe perineal trauma for women living in Asia. In contrast, studies conducted in some Western countries have identified Asian ethnicity as a risk factor for severe perineal trauma. It is unknown why (in some situations) Asian women are more vulnerable to this birth complication. The lack of an international standard definition for the term Asian further undermines clarification of this issue. Nevertheless, there is an urgent need to explore why Asian women are reported to be significantly at risk for severe perineal trauma in some Western countries.ConclusionCurrent research on this topic is confusing and conflicting. Further research is urgently required to explore why Asian women are at risk for severe perineal trauma in some birth settings.     

Responsive Public Officials and Engaged Citizens: Myth or Reality? A Case Study of Water Rights Policy in Colorado

In the past decade nearly 20 Colorado communities have constructed kayak courses to provide recreational amenities and attract tourists. These projects were followed in some cases by applications for a new form of recreational water rights, which differs dramatically from traditional forms of water rights in Colorado. This paper investigates the role that citizens played in the legal and legislative battles that resulted in this policy change. Findings indicate that citizens demanded the construction of kayak courses across Colorado, to which local officials responded. Citizens generally were indifferent to water rights applications once kayak facilities were constructed, however. Government officials sought the water rights to protect their economic investment and their newfound tourist revenue.