Disturbing the AcademicConferenceMachine: Post‐qualitative re‐turnings

Author 1:

They say they want to disturb the AcademicConferenceMachine.

Author 34:

What is an AcademicConferenceMachine?

Author 2:

Please do not go in that direction. Ask, for example, what does an AcademicConferenceMachine do?

Author 51:

Ok, so what does it do?

Author 6:

AcademicConferenceMachines are becoming so regulated and standardized that they might lose the possibility to produce different knowledge and to produce knowledge differently.

Author 227:

Do you think they succeeded?

Author 9999:

I do not know.

     

Psychological Interventions for Transgender Persons: A Scoping Review

This study aimed to investigate psychological interventions for transgender persons, aiming to highlight their goals, theoretical background and methods. A scoping review was conducted in four databases, ranging from 1980 to 2015. Selection led to a final sample of 36 articles. The goals of psychological interventions are unclearly described in many studies. Different background theories were identified and in some studies, these were not clearly explained and presented no epistemological considerations. The publishing of more empirical studies, with an affirmative standpoint toward gender identity and stricter scientific rigor, is needed to support and strengthen interventions.     

‘To what world am I being released to?’*: Canadian national news discourse and the anticipated repatriation of Omar Khadr

Between January 2010 and September 2012, Canadians anticipated the possible return of a citizen incarcerated in Guantánamo for approximately a decade. This temporal moment incited narratives about Canadian citizenship and belonging. Narratives, I argue, that are discursively mediated through (and anchored in) the figure of the White Canadian. Khadr’s potential return to Canada is expressed as a perilous racial encounter between white nationals and a foreign racial body. To bring to life this encounter, I draw on three expressions of fear in Canadian national news media. I first trace how narratives of descent, evident in discussions of Khadr’s family and its history, reinforce distinctions between authentic and inauthentic Canadians. Second, I consider how Khadr’s failure to incarnate Canadian values re-produces whiteness and rationality as qualifiers of national membership and belonging. Lastly, I demonstrate how the putatively contagious nature of the Muslim terrorist psyche valorizes racial distinctions between Canadians and Muslims. My work aims to make visible the ideological labor of national news discourse. I think through these representations within the racial politics which structure citizenship and negotiations about what it means to be Canadian.     

The effects of board size and ‘busy’ directors on the market value of Italian companies

This paper presents evidence that corporate governance quality measured by (1) the board size and (2) the fraction of directors that serve on more corporate boards, influences the market value of firms. The analysis is based in Italy, a country that is characterized by family and concentrated ownership, low legal protection of investors and pyramidal firm structures. Our empirical results suggest that the level of ‘busy-ness’ of corporate directors as a measure of board effectiveness has a significant influence on firm’s market performance. By contrast, we find limited evidence that board size has a substantial impact on the market valuation, except in small and medium enterprises and in some specific industry sectors.

Working Conditions and Health Among Italian Ageing Workers

In many European countries requirements for retirement have been tightened, causing an increase in work participation of older workers, in spite their potentially poorer health may limit their work ability. This study aimed at assessing the diffusion of health problems and exposure to unfavorable working conditions among ageing workers in two Italian surveys, as well as comparing them with those observed in the same surveys conducted before the 2011 Italian pension reform tightening the normal retirement age. The 2013 National Health Survey (NHS) and Labour Force Survey (LFS) were employed to assess the prevalence of poor perceived health, health conditions and functional limitations, and of exposure to physical, psychosocial and organization factors at work, among 60–64 years workers. Poisson regression models were used to estimate Prevalence Ratios of health outcomes and unfavorable working conditions in the two surveys, compared to data from the 2005 (NHS) and 2007 (LFS) corresponding surveys, respectively. Among both men and women, approximately one quarter had at least one physical disorder or functional limitations and 15% poor mental health. Exposure to different ergonomic factors (15–30%) and working during unsocial hours (19%) were particularly diffused. A significant increase in the prevalence of functional limitations and of working at night or during unsocial hours was found in 2013, compared to corresponding data from 2005 and 2007, respectively. Our results indicate that exposure to ergonomic and organizational hazards should be reduced among ageing workers, to avoid decreased work ability, health damage or early exit from the labour market.

     

Local spatial log-Gaussian Cox processes for seismic data

AStA Advances in Statistical Analysis - In this paper, we propose the use of advanced and flexible statistical models to describe the spatial displacement of earthquake data. The paper aims to...