Effects of Affective and Anxiety Disorders on Outcome in Problem Gamblers Attending Routine Cognitive–Behavioural Treatment in South Australia

This study evaluated the influence of 12-month affective and anxiety disorders on treatment outcomes for adult problem gamblers in routine cognitive–behavioural therapy. A cohort study at a state-wide gambling therapy service in South Australia. Primary outcome measure was rated by participants using victorian gambling screen (VGS) ‘harm to self’ sub-scale with validated cut score 21+ (score range 0–60) indicative of problem gambling behaviour. Secondary outcome measure was Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS). Independent variable was severity of affective and anxiety disorders based on Kessler 10 scale. We used propensity score adjusted random-effects models to estimate treatment outcomes for sub-populations of individuals from baseline to 12 month follow-up. Between July, 2010 and December, 2012, 380 participants were eligible for inclusion in the final analysis. Mean age was 44.1 (SD = 13.6) years and 211 (56 %) were males. At baseline, 353 (92.9 %) were diagnosed with a gambling disorder using VGS. For exposure, 175 (46 %) had a very high probability of a 12-month affective or anxiety disorder, 103 (27 %) in the high range and 102 (27 %) in the low to moderate range. For the main analysis, individuals experienced similar clinically significant reductions (improvement) in gambling related outcomes across time (p < 0.001). Individuals with co-varying patterns of problem gambling and 12 month affective and anxiety disorders who present to a gambling help service for treatment in metropolitan South Australia gain similar significant reductions in gambling behaviours from routine cognitive–behavioural therapy in the mid-term.     

Growing Up Where ‘No One Looked Like Me’: Gender,Race, Hip Hop and Identity in Vancouver

This paper examines how youth whose parents came from sub-Saharan Africa negotiate racialized forms of masculinity and femininity in Vancouver, Canada. The study is based on interviews with second generation African-Canadian men and women, and explores gendered and racialized dimensions of growing up in neighbourhoods where they were usually the only African and Black children. In this context, the second generation engages with representations of Black masculinity and femininity widely circulated through American popular culture, especially through hip hop, constituting a dominant frame of reference among adolescents that contributes to the great popularity of African-Canadian teenage boys, while girls find it much harder to fit in.     

How Opportunistic Culture Affects Financial Performance in Outsourcing Relationships: A Meta-Analysis

Although a substantial body of research has analyzed the overall impact of outsourcing on firm performance measured in shareholder value, a major portion of the between-study variance remains unexplained. Asset specificity related to the outsourcing category (e.g., a business process versus information technology) alone can explain only some of the observed differences in stock market reactions. By integrating insights from transaction cost economics and outsourcing research, we first explain how expected buyer opportunism negatively affects the overall performance of the outsourcing relationship and ultimately, the buyer's own shareholder value. We further argue that this opportunism can be predicted by national culture. We test this hypothesis by applying meta-analytic techniques to compare 4216 outsourcing announcements of firms from 19 cultural backgrounds. The results reveal that an opportunistic culture, represented by a high level of assertiveness combined with a low level of institutional collectivism, is a highly statistically significant predictor of stock market reactions to outsourcing announcements. When further integrating the outsourcing category, the meta-analytic weighted least squares regression becomes a strong predictor of stock market reactions to an outsourcing announcement.     

Multilevel Mixed Linear Models for Survival Data

For the analysis of correlated survival data mixed linear models are useful alternatives to frailty models. By their use the survival times can be directly modelled, so that the interpretation of the fixed and random effects is straightforward. However, because of intractable integration involved with the use of marginal likelihood the class of models in use has been severely restricted. Such a difficulty can be avoided by using hierarchical-likelihood, which provides a statistically efficient and fast fitting algorithm for multilevel models. The proposed method is illustrated using the chronic granulomatous disease data. A simulation study is carried out to evaluate the performance.     

云南少数民族体育产业发展进程探索

本文认为,从继承和创新的角度看民族体育的发展,最有效的方法是,通过挖掘、整理、改造、开发使之走向产业发展的道路.这样的发展思路既符合民族文化大省的需要,又符合寻找特色产业的需要.     

Interkulturelle Kommunikation als Voraussetzung für interkulturelles Coaching unter Berücksichtigung der rumänischen Kultur

Professional coaching in intercultural contexts requires adapting the “tool” of coaching to this specific focus. Coaching in intercultural contexts is based on a thorough understanding of intercultural communication. History, and specifically social history, of cultures and nations are essential to understanding intercultural processes. The intercultural coach also needs to possess advanced foreign language competence in order to communicate meanings in the target language.     

九叶诗人的语言建构

九叶诗人是1945-1949年间出现的一群诗歌探索者.其诗歌语言陌生化、词序颠倒、割裂、错位等方面有突出风格,是中国现代诗坛中西文化较好的结合的一束绿叶.     

Phillips-Perron-type unit root tests in the nonlinear ESTAR framework

Summary In this paper, we propose Phillips-Perron type, semi-parametric testing procedures to distinguish a unit root process from a mean-reverting exponential smooth transition autoregressive one. The limiting nonstandard distributions are derived under very general conditions and simulation evidence shows that the tests perform better than the standard Phillips-Perron or Dickey-Fuller tests in the region of the null. We would like to thank conference participants of the Pfingsttagung 2005 in Münster for their helpful comments.     

Nonparametric models and their estimation

Summary Nonparametric models have become more and more popular over the last two decades. One reason for their popularity is software availability, which easily allows to fit smooth but otherwise unspecified functions to data. A benefit of the models is that the functional shape of a regression function is not prespecified in advance, but determined by the data. Clearly this allows for more insight which can be interpreted on a substance matter level. This paper gives an overview of available fitting routines, commonly called smoothing procedures. Moreover, a number of extensions to classical scatterplot smoothing are discussed, with examples supporting the advantages of the routines.