Common correlates of suicidal ideation and physical assault among male and female university students in Hong Kong

This study examined prevalence and correlates of suicidal ideation and dating partner violence in a cohort of 651 university students in social sciences classes at three universities in Hong Kong. A standard questionnaire was completed within one class period to examine the rates of occurrence of physical assault perpetration and suicidal ideation. Separate rates are presented for male and female perpetrators and for severe and overall levels of violence. The differences between subjects having suicidal ideation are compared using t tests. Logistic regression is used to predict the presence or absence of physical assault in the preceding year of reporting and suicidal ideation based on the variables such as Personal Relationship Profile, age, relationship length, and socioeconomic status. Results showed that 55% of suicidal persons had a history of violence, whereas 39% of violent people had a history of suicidal ideation. Logistic regression showed that physical assault shared a total of seven associated factors with suicidal ideation. Suicidal ideation seems to have no direct relation to physical and sexual assault, but they do share some common associated factors that are essential for the development of suicide prevention.     

A Simple Algorithm for the Mathematical Programming Approach to Joint Cost Allocation for Decision Making (Demand-Adjusted-Sales-Value Algorithm)*

This paper investigates the mathematical programming (MP) approach for decision making and cost allocation in the context of joint products. Through analysis of the MP approach to marginal-value-based cost allocations, an algorithm is developed to show that the allocations contain two elements: an element that is specific to individual joint products due to differences in demand elasticities, and an element based on relative adjusted sales values. If demand elasticities are identical for all joint products, then the traditional sales value method will generate the same cost allocation as the MP method. The new algorithm, the demand-adjusted-sales-value algorithm (DASV), is especially helpful for solving the MP model with linear demand functions. The DASV algorithm provides an easy way to generate costs that are useful for optimal decision making.     

Effect of shoe type on descending a curb

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of shoe type on the performance of women during curb descent. Performance during curb stepping may be explained by biomechanical research that has evaluated the kinematics of overground walking and stair ascent and descent. Studies have reported that women exhibit performance differences when wearing high heels, flip flops and sneakers during overground walking and stair ascent and descent. Thus, in addition to features of the curb, the type of shoe being worn may also affect performance. Although several studies have investigated curb stepping, no known studies have investigated the effects of different types of footwear on curb descent performance. This research was conducted in a real-world environment where participants wore three different types of shoes and performed a series of activities that involved curb stepping. The subjects were videotaped while descending a curb, allowing for observation of changes in gait parameters. Results of this study indicate that wearing high heels leads to performance differences as compared to wearing flip flops or sneakers.     

The robustness of chain block designs and coat-of-mail designs

Chain block designs are relatively vulnerable to loss of information when missing values or outliers may occur. An alternative class of designs, coat-of-mail designs, are proposed and the relative robustness of the two types of design are compared.     

Towards a socio-oecotechnology

The paper will attempt to demonstrate that within the broad ambit of the socio-technical model there is scope for development and for a degree of innovation. Two aspects of the model will be progressed and to some extent integrated. Firstly, I will argue that the joint optimisation (JtO) concept has not been elaborated and emphasised as much as it deserves and it needs to be sharply differentiated from the widely used notion of maximisation. Secondly, using JtO, I will extend the two system socio-technical model to a troika model by including the impact of technology on the oecological environment.¹ To obtain the best overall results, JtO has to be achieved between three systems: the social, the technical and the oecological. In this way, the extended model will engage with the public’s rapidly growing awareness of environmental hazards for which it frequently blames technologies. This extension also raises the socio-technical model from the micro- to the meso- and macro-level which was always the intention of the early pioneers. These theoretical developments will be treated heuristically and briefly illustrated by two case examples from recent research.     

Diversifying revenue sources in Canada: Are women's voluntary organizations different?

Government policies in Canada have taken a hard right turn, and tax cuts now have priority over investing in social programming. Both federal and provincial governments have been withdrawing from direct service provision, with the expectation that the voluntary sector will fill the gap. At the same time, traditional government support for the voluntary sector has declined, which limits the ability of organizations to meet their current service demands. Using a sample of 645 organizations from across Canada, this article explores the use of revenue diversification as a response to policy changes. The findings indicate that the factors related to voluntary organizations' in Canada embracing revenue diversification to support program delivery differ for organizations run by women and nongendered organizations.     

Globalization, the new economy, and the commodification of language and identity

The globalized new economy is bound up with transformations of language and identity in many different ways (cf., e.g. Bauman 1997; Castells 2000; Giddens 1990). These include emerging tensions between State-based and corporate identities and language practices, between local, national and supra-national identities and language practices, and between hybridity and uniformity. Ethnolinguistic minorities provide a particularly revealing window into these processes. In this paper, I explore ways in which the globalized new economy has resulted in the commodification of language and identity, sometimes separately, sometimes together. The paper is based on recent ethnographic, sociolinguistic research in francophone areas of Canada.