How does discharge status impact suicide risk in military veterans?

Little is known about over 125,000 veterans who received non-honorable military discharges since 2001, even though these veterans face substantial barriers to obtaining services and are likely to be at high risk for negative mental and behavioral health outcomes including suicide. Seven-hundred twenty-two veterans living the in the San Francisco Bay Area participated in the study. The sample comprised honorably discharged (n = 508) and non-honorably discharged veterans (n = 214). T-tests were used to compare means on predictors of suicide risk including Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, alcohol use, somatic symptoms, and physical disability. A series of regression models tested relationships between predictors, discharge status, and suicide risk. Non-honorably discharged veterans demonstrated higher mean scores than honorably discharged veterans on all predictors. In regression models, somatic symptoms (β = 0.22, p < 0.001), physical disability (β = 0.16, p < 0.05), and discharge status (β = 0.33, p < 0.001) were associated with suicide risk. The final model showed an interaction effect for discharge status on the relationship between somatic symptoms and suicide risk (β = 0.16, p < 0.05). Non-honorably discharged veterans showed higher rates of mental and physical health problems and suicide risk compared to honorably discharged veterans. The magnitude of the relationship between somatic symptoms and suicide risk was significantly greater in non-honorably discharged veterans.     

Ergonomic evaluation of processes and products in the manufacture of upholstery

This study aimed to perform an ergonomic evaluation of industrial processes and products - upholstered sofas - produced in the furniture cluster of Ubá-MG. The used material was collected from two sofas upholstered industries associated with the union of the furniture industries of Ubá region, located in Minas Gerais estate, Brazil. As for the product were evaluated dimensionally 29 upholstered sofas, with 12 being produced by industry "A" and 17 being produced by industry "B". As for the process, were evaluated: the socioeconomic profile of the worker and environmental factors of lighting and noise. The main results of this study showed that the upholstered sofas produced by industries, in general, fulfilled to the recommendations set out in the work in relation to the backrest height and useful seat depth. All the sofas, however, proved to be inadequate in relation to the seat height to the floor and the dimensions of the armrests Regarding environmental aspects, it was observed that in both industries, the activities in most jobs are performed under adverse conditions to the health and safety of workers and nonconformity with the limits set by Brazilian regulatory standard used in this work.     

Efficiency of personal protective equipment used in agriculture

Despite the practical importance of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), both in production and in consumption, it is observed a main problem regarding the quality of many PPE?s used in Brazil. This study found a gap between the state of the art and the state of prevailing practices in the design of PPE?s, which main consequences affect the health of workers who use PPE in agriculture activities. The results of this study identified legal constraints of this occurrence, involving the validation of PPE designed for isolate agents, without the analysis of relevant activities and without prototypes experiments in more frequent use situation.     

Moving Beyond Housing: Service Implications for Veterans Entering Permanent Supportive Housing

As a result of efforts to end homelessness among U.S. veterans, more former service members are entering permanent supportive housing (PSH). While PSH has been successfully used to house homeless veterans, more research is needed about services beyond housing placement and retention. This study uses the Gelberg–Andersen behavioral model for vulnerable populations to determine associations between predisposing, enabling, and need characteristics and recent service use (i.e., services to satisfy basic needs, occupational development, financial, healthcare, mental health) among unaccompanied homeless veterans (N?=?126) entering PSH in Los Angeles. Among the significant findings, as indicated using univariable logistic regression models, were veterans who had incarceration histories were more likely to utilize basic needs services, compared to those without incarceration histories. Veterans who received an honorable discharge were more likely to utilize occupational development services, compared to veterans with other discharge statuses. Veterans who had a case manager were more likely to utilize mental health services than those without a case manager, while those who received social security were less likely to utilize mental health services compared to veterans who did not receive social security. Veterans who met criteria for a psychological disability and veterans who met criteria for probable PTSD were more likely to use basic needs services and mental health services than veterans who fell below these thresholds. Clinical implications for social workers including “equal access to services,” “enhancing economic stability,” “providing safe and affordable housing with trauma-informed services,” and “training service social workers to deliver well-informed linkages and services” are discussed.     

FINANCIAL MARKETS' SHUTDOWN AND REACCESS

We employ a discrete‐time parametric duration model on a group of 121 countries over the period 1970–2011 and find that the probability of the end of financial markets' shutdown and reaccess falls as these events become longer. We also show that: (1) shutdown episodes are longer when economic prospects are poor and the degree of financial openness falls, the chief executive has been in office for long periods, and the country has a default history and (2) spells of reaccess tend to be longer when economic growth improves and financial openness increases, there are neither government crises nor government instability, and the country did not default in the past. (JEL C41, G15)     

Delayed childbearing in contemporary Spain: trends and differentials

During the last decade, family formation patterns in Spain have undergone a process of substantial transformation. Younger cohorts are increasingly postponing marriage and, once they enter marriage, they tend to delay childbearing. Partly as a result of these timing shifts, period measures such as total fertility rates are likely to underestimate true fertility levels. This study focuses on the first stage of family formation: the transition to motherhood. Following a birth interval approach, the analysis depicts recent trends and differentials in the timing of first birth and explores the role of premarital pregnancies and contraceptive practice on first interval dynamics.Durant la dernière décennie en Espagne, les types de constitution de la famille ont connu de substantielles transformations. Les plus jeunes cohortes prolongent leur célibat et, une fois mariées, tendent à retarder leurs naissances. En partie comme un effet de ces changements temporels, les mesures transversales, telles que la fécondité cumulée, sous-estiment vraisemblablement les vrais niveaux de la fécondité. Cette étude concentre son attention sur la prémière étape de la formation des familles: la transition vers la maternité. En utilisant une approche longitudinale, on analyse les tendances et les différences dans le calendrier de la première naissance et l'on explore le rôle des grossesses prémaritales et des pratiques contraceptives sur la dynamique de l'intervalle entre mariage et première naissance.

---

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the United Nations.     

Procurement process: Decision by exclusion and pairwise comparisons

Two case studies illustrate multicriteria decision making techniques frequently used in procurement practice: least-cost sufficient performance and weighted utility optimization. Both techniques have defects and are rarely robust. Decision by exclusion and pairwise comparisons is proposed as a third approach which eliminates inferior alternatives by generalized forms of minimum performance requirements established under multicriteria framework. It is more robust and maintains high level of accountability.