Population structure and correlation between auxiliary and target variables may affect precision of estimates in forest inventory

Simulations of forest inventory in several populations compared simple random with “quick probability proportional to size” (QPPS) sampling. The latter may be applied in the absence of a list sampling frame and/or prior measurement of the auxiliary variable. The correlation between the auxiliary and target variables required to render QPPS sampling more efficient than simple random sampling varied over the range 0.3–0.6 and was lower when sampling from populations that were skewed to the right. Two possible analytical estimators of the standard error of the estimate of the mean for QPPS sampling were found to be less reliable than bootstrapping.     

Employee attitudes to work-based counselling services

Work-based counselling services have increasingly been introduced in organizational settings in the 1980s and 1990s. In this paper, a study is reported of the attitudes of 213 employees of a UK Health Authority towards an existing counselling service. Questionnaires sought information about attitudes to counselling, confidentiality, attitudes to those seeking counselling and general health. The results suggested that attitudes to work-based counselling services are predicted by employees' perceptions of those seeking counselling as trustworthy and their beliefs about the confidentiality of the service. The practical implications of these results are examined.     

Longitudinal measurement models in evaluation research: Examining stability and change

This article provides an introduction to the use of Confirmatory Factor Analysis to test measurement invariance and stability in longitudinal research. The approach is illustrated through examples representing: (a) one construct, two measurement waves; (b) one construct, three waves; (c) two constructs, two waves; and (d) comparison of treatment and control groups in pre-post designs. Basic issues in establishing measurement invariance over time, across treatment groups, and within measurement waves are discussed. Estimates of the stability coefficients that are corrected for measurement error and method variance associated with each specific measured variable are provided. Establishing measurement invariance is a critical requirement for making inferences about treatment effects and changes in constructs over time.     

Workplace discrimination and disfigurement: the national EEOC ADA research project

Using the Integrated Mission System of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the employment discrimination experience of Americans with disfigurement is documented. Key dimensions of workplace discrimination involving Americans with disfigurement and persons with missing limbs are compared and contrasted. Specifically, the researchers examine demographic characteristics of Charging Parties; the industry designation, location and size of Respondents/employers; the discrimination Issue (i.e., type of adverse action) alleged to occur; and the legal outcome or Resolution of these allegations. Charging Parties with disfigurement who are female or between 30 and 39 years of age are more likely to encounter employment discrimination than their counterparts with missing limbs. Harassment and Non-wage Benefits are the Issues that emerge in higher proportion. Allegations derived from persons with disfigurement are more common in among mid-size employers, those located in the South, or those in Retail or Service industries. Following investigation, allegations derived from persons with disfigurement are less likely to have Merit Resolutions than those brought by Charging Parties with missing limbs.     

从尼采到德里达:不断破解与不断建构--解读西方现代文艺美学的发展历程

如何理解西方现代文艺美学的历史发展过程?怎样才能更好地吸取西方的理论精华?这对于中国现代文艺美学理论研究和建设,无疑具有重要意义。本文试图通过对于一些重要理论家,诸如尼采、荣格、萨特、福柯、德里达等人的理论分析与评价,触摸到西方现代文艺美学发展的内在脉搏及其特点。本文认为,不断破解旧的思想模式与不断建构新的理论平台,是西方现代文艺美学不断获得生机和活力的重要原因。     

海峡西岸社会主义新农村规划与实施的若干建议

在把握海峡西岸社会主义新农村建设的战略定位、价值选择和几大主要矛盾问题的基础上,从规划定位与规划要处理的几个关系,规划实施过程中的试点、农村产业体系的构建、体制机制的创新与完善等方面提出相关的建议。     

(Not) talking about sex: youth, identity and sexuality

Young people remain inhibited in their exploration of sexuality not only by heterosexual morality and gendered power relations but also by their transitional status, yet the age dimension of youth and sexuality has been relatively neglected in recent research. This paper examines a number of social constraints on young people's opportunities for talk and discussion about sex, with reference to their experiences of sex education and services in sexual health. Based on interviews with 147 young women and young men and a separate survey of 400 clinic users, it emphasises the limited social acceptance of teenage sexuality and the forms of its regulation, which are both normative and relational. Attention to social relations with adults also shows how questions of sexual citizenship are closely connected to wider issues of social equality.     

Exploring the Impact of Social Axioms on Firm Reputation: A Stakeholder Perspective

This study proposes a model of how deeply held beliefs, known as ‘social axioms, moderate the interaction between reputation, its causes and consequences with stakeholders. It contributes to the stakeholder relational field of reputation theory by explaining why the same organizational stimuli lead to different individual stakeholder responses. The study provides a shift in reputation research from organizational‐level stimuli as the root causes of stakeholder responses to exploring the interaction between individual beliefs and organizational stimuli in determining reputational consequences. Building on a conceptual model that incorporates product/service quality and social responsibility as key reputational dimensions, the authors test empirically for moderating influences, in the form of social axioms, between reputation‐related antecedents and consequences, using component‐based structural equation modelling (n = 204). In several model paths, significant differences are found between responses of individuals identified as either high or low on social cynicism, fate control and religiosity. The results suggest that stakeholder responses to reputation‐related stimuli can be systematically predicted as a function of the interactions between the deeply held beliefs of individuals and these stimuli. The authors offer recommendations on how strategic reputation management can be approached within and across stakeholder groups at a time when firms grapple with effective management of diverse stakeholder expectations.