A Moderate Manifesto: Mormon Feminism,Agency, and Internet Blogging

The recent excommunication of Utah feminist-activist Kate Kelly demonstrates the precariousness of activism within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS/Mormon). This article performs a textual analysis of a popular blog post written by an influential LDS employee, women’s activist, and blogger: Neylan McBaine. I argue that McBaine’s separation of doctrine from culture and her use of strategic ambiguity construct an effective argument applicable to a broad range of Mormon readers and leaders. The technological affordances of Internet blogging are also considered, in particular, how such affordances enable McBaine to embody her Manifesto by linking it to her personal and professional life, establishing her ethos as a mediator of differing women’s voices, offering a promising path to positive policy and cultural change for Mormon women. This analysis demonstrates the utility of calls to unity in light of increasing tensions surrounding Mormon women’s visibility, decision-making, and priesthood ordination.     

Reparameterization of nonlinear statistical models: a case study

The importance of finding appropriate parameterizations for nonlinear statistical models is highlighted. The purpose of this paper is to explore the principles of reparameterization, using an example from real data. It is shown that stable parameterizations allow likelihood-based confidence intervals to be computed. Further, it is noted that the choice of error distribution may seriously affect the estimates and confidence intervals of quantities of interest. The influence of each observation on the estimation of each parameter is displayed for each error model. Multidimensional likelihood contours may be displayed pairwise using profile likelihood computations.     

Population Policy in a Prosperous City‐State: Dilemmas for Singapore

Singapore has achieved one of the highest levels of per capita income in the world, through sound economic planning and a stress on building its human capital. Yet its enviable living conditions are at risk of being enjoyed by fewer citizens, and indeed themselves placed in jeopardy, by the continued very low fertility levels. Ultra‐low fertility and growing reluctance by citizens to accept an increasing share of foreign‐born pose difficult dilemmas for population policy, given the planning scenario of reaching a resident population of 6.5 million. A range of pro‐marriage and pronatalist policies has failed to raise fertility substantially, while past success in modifying population trends and structure through migration has now encountered the twin problems of political constraints on the volume of immigration that is acceptable and a possible increase in emigration of Singapore citizens.     

Southeast Asian urbanization and the growth of mega-urban regions

Southeast Asia has not been sufficiently urbanized long enough to have developed a real urban proletariat, yet it has been profoundly affected by urbanization. An important development has been the emergence of extended metropolitan regions, which now contain about 11 per cent of Southeast Asia’s population. In studying the dynamics of growth of these extended regions, it is important to designate zones around the official metropolitan areas. When this is done for the Southeast Asian mega-urban regions, they are the zones immediately outside the metropolitan area where urban expansion is marked, in-migration greatest, and occupational change most rapid. A corollary of this is that the conclusion frequently drawn that Asian big-city growth is slowing is misleading, because studies usually fail to include the rapidly-growing areas outside metropolitan boundaries. Trends over the 1990–2000 period for Jakarta and Bangkok illustrate the point. Realistic appraisal of the planning needs of Southeast Asia’s mega-urban regions requires integrated research on the broader metropolitan region surrounding the metropolis proper.     

Affective and self-efficacy responses to acute aerobic exercise in sedentary older and younger adults

This study examined the psychological responses to an acute bout of aerobic exercise in sedentary older and younger adults. Eighteen young (mean age 24 years) and 15 older adults (mean age 64 years) completed a 20-min bout of stationary cycling at 65% of VO2peak. Affective responses were assessed before, during, and immediately after exercise. Participants'exercise self-efficacy beliefs were assessed before and immediately after exercise. Both groups reported reduced pleasant feeling states and self-efficacy and increased physical exhaustion in response to acute exercise. Older adults also demonstrated a significant decrease in revitalization during and after cycling. Correlation analyses revealed that self-efficacy was related to feelings of fatigue during exercise and postexercise feelings of energy and fatigue. Both groups reported negative shifts in affect and self-efficacy during and 5 min after cycling.Acute affective and self-efficacy responses might influence one's motivation to adopt and maintain regular physical activity. The relationship between these acute responses and physical activity behavior across the life span warrants future inquiry.     

Critical Turns in the Evolution of Diversity Management

This paper seeks to extend and invigorate existing critiques of the aims and claims of diversity management. Four overlapping turns – demographic, political, economic and critical – akin to the broader and critical 'turns' in the humanities and social sciences are identified. When existing critiques are reconsidered through the framework offered by these four turns, then diversity management can be seen to: perpetuate rather than combat inequalities in the workplace; diminish the legacy of discrimination against historically repressed minorities in the workplace; continue to prescribe essentialist categories of difference and present problematic dualisms for effecting organizational change.     

Likelihood estimation for stochastic compartmental models using Markov chain methods

This paper presents a method for estimating likelihood ratios for stochastic compartment models when only times of removals from a population are observed. The technique operates by embedding the models in a composite model parameterised by an integer k which identifies a switching time when dynamics change from one model to the other. Likelihood ratios can then be estimated from the posterior density of k using Markov chain methods. The techniques are illustrated by a simulation study involving an immigration-death model and validated using analytic results derived for this case. They are also applied to compare the fit of stochastic epidemic models to historical data on a smallpox epidemic. In addition to estimating likelihood ratios, the method can be used for direct estimation of likelihoods by selecting one of the models in the comparison to have a known likelihood for the observations. Some general properties of the likelihoods typically arising in this scenario, and their implications for inference, are illustrated and discussed.     

Doing The Right Thing: Labour's Attempt to Forge a New Welfare Deal Between the Individual and the State

This paper explores the rhetoric behind the Labour Government's welfare reforms. Recent publications and statements emanating from the new administration indicate the extent to which Labour feels comfortable with notions of communitarianism and stakeholding. The influence and (potential) impact of these two concepts upon welfare policy is explored through the works of Macmurray, Etzioni, Hutton and, in spite of his departure from Government, Field. The paper argues that in attempting to create a welfare system based largely on conditions of work, set firmly within a framework of self-help and individual responsibility, Labour's reform agenda is concerned with the establishment of a new moral order for welfare in which individuals are urged to "do the right thing": that is, to take control of their own welfare and ultimately to be responsible for meeting their own needs whenever possible. The Government presents this attempt to forge a welfare settlement between the individual and the state as both new and inclusive. However, it is concluded that such claims are contentious as the Government's "new" approach echoes old individualistic ideas about the causes and solutions to poverty, and may also result in the exclusion of some citizens from publicly financed welfare.     

Cue-Reactive Altered State of Consciousness Mediates the Relationship Between Problem-Gambling Severity and Cue-Reactive Urge in Poker-Machine Gamblers

In order to enhance our understanding of the nature of poker-machine problem-gambling, a community sample of 37 poker-machine gamblers (M _age = 32 years, M _PGSI = 5; PGSI = Problem Gambling Severity Index) were assessed for urge to gamble (responses on a visual analogue scale) and altered state of consciousness (assessed by the Altered State of Awareness dimension of the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory) at baseline, after a neutral cue, and after a gambling cue. It was found that (a) problem-gambling severity (PGSI score) predicted increase in urge (from neutral cue to gambling cue, controlling for baseline; sr ² = .19, p = .006) and increase in altered state of consciousness (from neutral cue to gambling cue, controlling for baseline; sr ² = .57, p < .001), and (b) increase in altered state of consciousness (from neutral cue to gambling cue) mediated the relationship between problem-gambling severity and increase in urge (from neutral cue to gambling cue; κ² = .40, 99 % CI [.08, .71]). These findings suggest that cue-reactive altered state of consciousness is an important component of cue-reactive urge in poker-machine problem-gamblers.     

Limits of Object Persistence: Young Infants Perceive Continuity of Vertical and Horizontal Trajectories,But Not 45‐Degree Oblique Trajectories

Previous research indicated that 4‐month‐old infants perceive continuity of objects moving on horizontal trajectories but appear to have difficulty processing occlusion events involving oblique trajectories. However, because perception of continuity of vertical trajectories has not been tested, it is uncertain whether this indicates a specific deficit for oblique trajectories or a specific advantage for horizontal trajectories. We evaluated the contribution of trajectory orientation and the form of occlusion in three experiments with one hundred and forty‐four 4‐month‐olds. Infants perceived continuity of horizontal and vertical trajectories under all conditions presented. However, they did not perceive continuity of an oblique (45°) trajectory under any condition. Thus, 4‐month‐olds appear unable to process continuity of a 45° trajectory. In a fourth experiment with forty‐eight 6‐ and 8‐month‐old infants, we demonstrated that by 6 months, infants' difficulty with oblique trajectories is overcome. We suggest that young infants' difficulty with markedly oblique trajectories likely relates to immature eye movement control.