Spiritual needs of mothers with sick new born or premature infants—A cross sectional survey among German mothers

Background

Spirituality is part of the basic needs of all humans, yet often undervalued by health professionals. Less is known about the spiritual needs of mothers of preterm or sick new born children.

Cognitive Characteristics of Strategic and Non-strategic Gamblers

Participation in strategic and non-strategic games is mostly explained in the literature by gender: men gamble on strategic games, while women gamble on non-strategic games. However, little is known about the underlying cognitive factors that could also distinguish strategic and non-strategic gamblers. We suggest that cognitive style and need for cognition also explain participation in gambling subtypes. From a dual-process perspective, cognitive style is the tendency to reject or accept the fast, automatic answer that comes immediately in response to a problem. Individuals that preferentially reject the automatic response use an analytic style, which suggest processing information in a slow way, with deep treatment. The intuitive style supposes a reliance on fast, automatic answers. The need for cognition provides a motivation to engage in effortful activities. One hundred and forty-nine gamblers (53 strategic and 96 non-strategic) answered the Cognitive Reflection Test, Need For Cognition Scale, and socio-demographic questions. A logistic regression was conducted to evaluate the influence of gender, cognitive style and need for cognition on participation in strategic and non-strategic games. Our results show that a model with both gender and cognitive variables is more accurate than a model with gender alone. Analytic (vs. intuitive) style, high (vs. low) need for cognition and being male (vs. female) are characteristics of strategic gamblers (vs. non-strategic gamblers). This study highlights the importance of considering the cognitive characteristics of strategic and non-strategic gamblers in order to develop preventive campaigns and treatments that fit the best profiles for gamblers.     

Navigating Intersectional Approaches,Methods, and Interdisciplinarity to Health Equity in LGBTQ+ Communities

Abstract

The broad spectrum of health services and wellness surrounding lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) communities operates within multiple layers of social inequities. Research using intersectionality features numerous research methods purposed specifically for clarity toward increasing health equity. Generated in the scope of various research methods (e.g., quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods), utilizing intersectionality illustrates potential to explore complex phenomena and outcomes within LGBTQ+?communities. As intersectionality thrives on interdisciplinarity, this article focuses on three overarching purposes: (a) accentuate health equity and social justice across an interdisciplinary scope for LGBTQ+?communities, (b) highlight formative principles grounded in intersectionality, and (c) supplement recommendations for research targeting health equity.     

Exploring the Urban–Rural Incarceration Divide: Drivers of Local Jail Incarceration Rates in the United States

ABSTRACT

A large body of research has focused on understanding mass incarceration in the United States through the lens of federal and state prison growth. However, local jail systems, with 11 million admissions each year, have received less research attention despite their broad impact on communities. Preliminary analysis conducted by the Vera Institute of Justice (Vera) uncovered geographical disparities in county jail incarceration rates. Contrary to assumptions that incarceration is an urban phenomenon, Vera discovered that, in recent decades, pretrial jail rates have declined or remained flat in many urban areas, whereas rates have grown in rural counties. In an effort to uncover factors contributing to continued jail growth in rural areas, Vera joined forces with Two Sigma’s Data Clinic, a volunteer-based program that leverages Two Sigma employees’ data science expertise. Determinants of local jail rates from 2000–2013 were examined using a generalized estimating equations (GEE) model to account for correlations within counties over time. Results revealed that county-level poverty, police expenditures, and spillover effects from other county and state authorities are significant predictors of local jail rates. Investigation of model residuals revealed clusters of counties where observed rates were much higher than expected conditioned upon county variables.     

Faster,harder, longer,stronger – management at the threshold between work and private life: The case of work place health promotion

This paper studies Work Place Health Promotion at two international corporations as an example of an unobtrusive control that targets employees’ lifestyles. It uses Michel Foucault's concepts of neoliberal governmentality and post-disciplinary control to show how Work Place Health Promotion breaks with the disciplinary logic of control most commonly associated with studies of unobtrusive controls in organizations. While discipline is centripetal, correcting employees’ misconduct so that they freely keep within prescribed norms, Work Place Health Promotion is centrifugal, targeting employees’ lifestyles and promoting those existing faculties and inclinations that may increase their activity, performance and their health. It hereby emerges as less restrictive than organizational discipline, but also as more discriminating. For not only does it subject employees’ lifestyles to an economic logic of investment and disinvestment, it also contributes to an exclusion of employees that fail in this regard in the name of their lack of health.     

On voters’ attitudes towards unemployment insurance subsidies across regions: a Canadian simulation

The Canadian unemployment insurance program is designed to reflect the varying risk of joblessness across regions. Regions that are considered low-risk areas subsidize higher-risk ones. A region’s risk is typically proxied by its relative unemployment rate. We use a dynamic, heterogeneous-agent model calibrated to Canada to analyze voters’ preferences between a uniformly generous unemployment insurance and the current system with asymmetric generosity. We find that Canada’s unusual unemployment insurance system is surprisingly close to what voters would choose in spite of the possibilities of shirking and self-insurance through asset buildup.

Estimation du comportement asymptotique des autocovariances et autocorrelations empiriques de processus multivariéeas

Statistics based on the sample autocovariances are widely used in time-series analysis. Estimators of the asymptotic covariance between the sample autocovariances are commonly derived from the so-called Bartlett's formula. However, this formula essentially holds for linear processes. This entails that for a wide range of nonlinear time series the above-mentioned estimators are not suitable. In this paper the behaviour of an alternative estimator is studied within the framework of centered or uncentered multivariate strongly mixing processes. Applications to differential functions of sample autocovariances, such as the sample autocorrelations, are considered.