The Welsh Patagonian Connection: A Neglected Chapter in Australian Immigration History

This article is an account of the history of Welsh migrants to Patagonia from 1865 to 1914, their motivations for emigrating, their experiences in Argentina, and the subsequent relocation of several hundred to the British dominions in the early twentieth century.
The focus in the first part of the article is on the nature of those who went from Patagonia to Australia between 1910 and 1915 and the migration of a group of Australians to Paraguay in the 1890s. The second half of the article examines the experiences of the Welsh Patagonians in Australia, their relationships with federal and state governments in the light of the intense rivalry to procure them as settlers, and their involvement in two New South Wales Royal Commissions concerning the operations of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area.
The article concludes with a discussion on the degree to which a Welsh cultural heritage and identity has been preserved by these settlers in an assimilationist post-Federation Australia. Not only is this a unique double migration experience, but it calls into question immigration encouragement policies and official advertising material during this period, a history which parallels other land settlement schemes of both the pre- and post-war eras in Australia.     

Uncovered set choice rules

I study necessary and sufficient conditions for a choice function to be rationalized in the following sense: there exists a total asymmetric relation T (a tournament) such that, for each feasible (finite) set, the choice set coincides with the uncovered set of T restricted to that feasible set. This notion of ‘maximization’ offers testable restrictions on observable choice behavior.     

Quantity quantiles linear regression

We show that the definition of the θth sample quantile as the solution to a minimization problem introduced by Koenker and Bassett (Econometrica 46(1):33–50, 1978) can be easily extended to obtain an analogous definition for the θth sample quantity quantile widely investigated and applied in the Italian literature. The key point is the use of the first-moment distribution of the variable instead of its distribution function. By means of this definition we introduce a linear regression model for quantity quantiles and analyze some properties of the residuals. In Sect. 4 we show a brief application of the methodology proposed. This research was partially supported by Fondo d’Ateneo per la Ricerca anno 2005—Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca. The paper is the result of the common work of the authors; in particular M. Zenga has written Sects. 1 and 5 while P. Radaelli has written the remaining sections.     

Análisis de la contextualización del comportamiento adaptativo en el retraso mental: Comparación entre contexto familiar e institucional

Resumen

Este estudio se dirige a contrastar las diferencias en el comportamiento adaptativo de los sujetos retrasados que son producto de los diferentes contextos en los que éste es emitido. En este caso, el contexto se entiende como los aspectos físicos y sociales del lugar en el que inmediatamente se produce la conducta. Esta perspectiva molecular del contexto ha permitido detectar diferencias en el comportamiento adaptativo en términos de lenguaje receptivo y lenguaje expresivo. La muestra utilizada fueron 71 sujetos evaluados a través del West Virginia assessment and tracking system.     

Leader–member exchange and empowerment: Direct and interactive effects on job satisfaction,turnover intentions,and performance

This study examined the moderating impact of empowerment on the relationships between leader–member exchange (LMX) quality and the self-rated outcomes of job satisfaction and turnover intentions, as well as the supervisor-rated outcomes of job performance and organizational citizenship behaviors. Two samples, with 244 and 158 employees respectively, were used to test our hypotheses. Our results provided evidence that in general, empowerment moderates the relationships between LMX and job outcomes. These findings are important as previous research has only tested these variables as independent predictors, but our results suggest the relationships these constructs have with important consequences are dependent on both variables. Practical implications and directions for future research are offered.     

Are clinician's ever biased in their judgments of the capacity of older adult's to make medical decisions?

Capacity assessment is a growing area of practice in geriatrics. In this pilot study we illustrate the potential relationship between clinician variables and capacity ratings. Twelve older adults with mild dementia or schizophrenia were rated by six clinicians from diverse disciplinary backgrounds. Capacity ratings were associated with clinician values regarding patient involvement in medical decisions, clinician-patient mismatches on such values, and emotional reactions to patients. Expanding our understanding of the impact of clinician variables on capacity ratings may enhance the reliability and validity of capacity assessments and help to promote autonomy when appropriate.     

Strategies Used by Gay and Bisexual Young Men to Cope with Heterosexism

Although the pervasiveness of heterosexism in the lives of gay and bisexual youth is well established, little is known about the strategies these youth use to cope with stigma and discrimination based on their sexual minority status. In this qualitative study, the authors present findings and implications for clinical practice based on interviews with 43 gay and bisexual young men. Respondents' coping strategies are discussed in relation to current theory and research on coping with stigma, as well as the emerging field of emotion regulation. The narratives from the current study suggest that the emotion regulation paradigm is well suited to understanding the functions of strategies for coping with heterosexism and similar types of stigma.     

Statistical analysis of process capability indices with measurement errors: The case ofC p

Process capability indices (PCIs) have been widely used in manufacturing industries to previde a quantitative measure of process potential and performance. While some efforts have been dedicated in the literature to the statistical properties of PCIs estimators, scarce attention has been given to the evaluation of these properties when sample data are affected by measurement errors. In this work we deal with the problem of measurement errors effects on the performance of PCIs. The analysis is illustrated with reference toC _p , i.e. the simplest and most common measure suggested to evaluate process capability. The authors would like to thank two anonymous referees for their comments and suggestion that were useful in the preparation and improvement of this paper. This work was partially supported by a MURST research grant.     

The role of self-advocacy in work for people with learning difficulties

This paper explores the relationship between self-advocacy and work for people with learning difficulties [1]. Explorations are based mainly on a participant observation study in which members of a self-advocacy group for people with learning difficulties included the researcher in their regular meetings. Discussions about work, most broadly defined as meaningful activity which makes a contribution to society, emerged as a critical preoccupation. We examine the importance of self-advocacy as a vehicle for people with learning difficulties who want to remove or circumvent barriers which surround their employment. Our research shows that understanding the role of self-advocacy in relation to work creates many development opportunities for both disabled employees and their prospective, or actual, employers. It is suggested that self-advocates can themselves achieve change in employers' attitudes by challenging oppressive images of people with learning difficulties in the workplace. It is hoped the paper will advance recognition of the importance of self-advocacy for maximising the participation of people with learning difficulties in work, and for acceptance of their status as workers.     

A multivariate uniformity test for the case of unknown support

A test for the hypothesis of uniformity on a support S⊂ℝ ^d is proposed. It is based on the use of multivariate spacings as those studied in Janson (Ann. Probab. 15:274–280, 1987). As a novel aspect, this test can be adapted to the case that the support S is unknown, provided that it fulfils the shape condition of λ-convexity. The consistency properties of this test are analyzed and its performance is checked through a small simulation study. The numerical problems involved in the practical calculation of the maximal spacing (which is required to obtain the test statistic) are also discussed in some detail.