Common Consequence Conditions in Decision Making under Risk

We generalize the Allais common consequence effect by describing three common consequence effect conditions and characterizing their implications for the probability weighting function in rank-dependent expected utility. The three conditions—horizontal, vertical, and diagonal shifts within the probability triangle—are necessary and sufficient for different curvature properties of the probability weighting function. The first two conditions, shifts in probability mass from the lowest to middle outcomes and middle to highest outcomes respectively, are alternative conditions for concavity and convexity of the weighting function. The third condition, decreasing Pratt-Arrow absolute concavity, is consistent with recently proposed weighting functions. The three conditions collectively characterize where indifference curves fan out and where they fan in. The common consequence conditions indicate that for nonlinear weighting functions in the context of rank-dependent expected utility, there must exist a region where indifference curves fan out in one direction and fan in the other direction.     

A model of cultural competency in social work as seen through the lens of self-awareness

Providing effective cultural competency training to social work students is a social work education struggle. This qualitative study, conducted in the United States, addresses this challenge by examining social work educators’ teaching methods for cultural competency by focusing on the self as a part of culture and racism as a part of dominant culture. The findings reveal that the social work educators emphasize the role of self-awareness and cultural awareness in teaching cultural competency. However, they prefer to use multiculturalism, a 1960s ideology, to teach cultural competency and do not invest in teaching anti-racism. These findings shed light on teaching cultural competency and have practical implications in social work education.     

Analytical expressions for the average adjustment interval and mean squared deviation for bounded adjustment schemes

This paper presents analytical expressions for the average adjustment interval and the mean squared deviation from target of the “bounded adjustment” schemes of Box and Luceno (1997a) under the assumption that the disturbances are generated from a double-exponential distribution. The solutions obtained are very close to those computed numerically for normally distributed innovations. This not only demonstrates the robustness of the schemes to the distributional assumptions, but also provides new useful expressions for the average adjustment interval and mean squared deviation from target. Expressions for the characteristic and probability mass functions of the adjustment interval are also given.     

Migrant female domestic workers: debating the economic,social and political impacts in Singapore

This article analyzes the impact of migrant female domestic workers on the socioeconomic and political context in Singapore. Although Singapore state policy opposes long-term immigration, there is a labor shortage which permits a transient work force of low-skilled foreign workers. In the late 1990s, Singapore had over 100,000 foreign maids, of whom 75% were from the Philippines, 20% were from Indonesia, and the rest were from Sri Lanka. Legislation ensures their short-term migrant status, restricts their numbers, and governs their employment. Migrant workers are also regulated through a stringent allocation system based on household income of employers and the need for caregivers for children. Work permits are conditioned on non-marriage to citizens of Singapore or pregnancy. Terms and conditions of migrant employment are not specified, which permits long hours of work and potential for inhumane treatment. Migrant women fulfill jobs not desired by natives and accept these jobs at lower wages. There is disagreement about the motivation for the maid levy and its need, fairness, and effectiveness in reducing demand for foreign maids. Most public discussion focuses on social values and morality of foreign maids. Politically, tensions arise over the legality of migration, which results from tourist worker migration to Singapore and circumvents Filipino labor controls. Most of the adjustment cases that come to the attention of OWWA are tourist workers. Policies should be gender sensitive.     

Abused women with children or children of abused women? A study of conflicting perspectives at women's refuges in Norway

Women's refuges were established in Norway in the late 1970s by and for women. From the very outset, abused women have also brought their children to the refuges. With an increasing political, practical and research focus on the situation of children exposed to violence, the Norwegian refuge movement today is expected to apply both the woman's and the child's perspective in their work. By analysing the discourse of children staying at women's refuges, this paper discusses and sheds light on situations where the two perspectives come into conflict and the implications of these conflicts for the children and for the women's refuge movement as a whole.     

Bias correction for time series factor models

In this paper we work with multivariate time series that follow a Factor Model. In particular, we consider the setting where factors are dominated by highly persistent AutoRegressive (AR) processes and samples that are rather small. Therefore, the factors' AR models are estimated using small sample bias correction techniques. A Monte Carlo study reveals that bias-correcting the AR coefficients of the factors allows to obtain better results in terms of prediction interval coverage. As expected, the simulation shows that bias-correction is more successful for smaller samples. We present the results assuming the AR order and number of factors are known as well as unknown. We also study the advantages of this technique for a set of Industrial Production Indexes of several European countries.     

An exploration of kaupapa Maori research,its principles,processes and applications

This article discusses whether the focus group method can be employed with troubled groups and for the discussion of high‐involvement topics. It analyses focus groups' discourse of high‐involvement topics, such as ‘the body’, ‘relationships’, and ‘sexuality’, conducted with female adolescents aged 15–20 years at a detention home. Contrary to the traditional belief that the focus group method is designed for low‐involvement topics and mainstream groups, our analyses of the discursive devices employed suggest that the method can indeed be used for high‐involvement topics. We also argue that other methods would not have given us ‘deeper’ insights and that the focus group method can be seen as a less intrusive method to be used in this setting.     

Attitudes toward homosexuality among U.S. residents of Mexican descent

This study examined attitudes toward lesbians and gay men in a sample of northern California residents of Mexican descent (N = 616), using 3‐item versions of the Attitudes Toward Gay Men (ATG) and Attitudes Toward Lesbians (ATL) scales presented simultaneously in Spanish and English. Males’ attitudes toward homosexual men were significantly more negative than females’ attitudes, whereas females expressed relatively negative attitudes toward lesbians. Overall, respondents expressing negative attitudes endorsed more traditional gender attitudes than respondents with positive attitudes, tended to be older and less educated, had more children, were more likely to belong to a fundamentalist religious denomination and to attend religious services frequently, were more conservative politically, and were less likely to have personal contact with gay people. Further analyses revealed that associations between attitudes and education, number of children, personal contact, and religious attendance occurred mainly among respondents who spoke and read English (rather than Spanish) or identified with U.S. culture (rather than Mexican culture).