Sport and disability: Pistorius does not fit with the categories

Oscar Pistorius presents a major issue to sports organisations, as exposed in the media. First and foremost, media wrongly perceive him as the first disabled athlete to participate in the Olympic Games. Second, they openly question the legitimacy of his participation mainly based on the inequity introduced by his prosthetic legs. Content analysis, in English and French, of written press, International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) texts, from 2004 to 2012, confirms that Pistorius presents a new puzzle to sports organizations. This is partly because they are not able to determine whether his performances are a result of his body strength or if they are biased by his artificial limbs. Furthermore, when he is competing against able-bodied athletes, sports organizsations put him in a ‘monstrous’ position. Similarly, while categorising him as an ‘athlete’ they do not grant him the characteristic feature of this category: certified comparability of performances to ultimately establish ranks.     

The Slaughtered and the Survivors: Collaboration Between Social Economy Organizations as a Key to Success in Times of Financial Crisis

The objective of this study is to analyze the aspects that allowed a critical part of Social Economy Organizations (SEOs) to survive a recession period, especially participation in collaborative networks. The financial stress of an SEO will depend on the resources and capabilities available to the organization. To analyze the financial stress of Spanish SEOs, we defined a sample of 714 SEOs. Approximately half of these organizations suffered from financial stress in the analyzed period (2009–2012). The results obtained in this study reveal the existence of three factors that distinguish organizations under financial stress: (a) a high dependence on government funding; (b) changes in the relationship between staff and volunteers; and (c) a lack of access to markets. The combination of these three elements results in an unsustainable situation for the organization. The development of a collaborative profile increases the SEO’s probability of surviving the adverse manifestations of its environment.     

城市经济圈发展助推区域一体化——兼论南沙新区与港澳的经济合作

根据区域一体化理论,结合新时期广东省在推进珠三角一体化中,建立和发展广佛肇、深莞惠和珠中江三个经济圈的实践,分析了区域经济一体化对区域整体发展的新意义、地位和作用,讨论了珠江三角洲通过建设和发展若干个以经济发展为核心的现代都市圈,对于新时期加强与港澳经济合作,促进区域经济一体化的更好发展颇具深远的意义和作用。     

基于分权视角的城市规划管理体制模式及改革建议

关于我国的城市规划管理权限一直存在＂集中＂与＂放权＂的讨论,并且城市规划管理体制也存在差异。通过对全国部分城市的规划管理体制进行梳理,从市、区（县、市）两级分权视角总结出我国城市规划管理体制中的＂垂直型＂、＂半垂直型＂和＂非垂直型＂三种典型模式,分别以南京、北京和上海为案例分析三种规划管理体制典型模式的主要特点和事权划分,并对其各自的优缺点进行比较,最后提出我国城市规划管理体制改革的若干建议,包括将规划决策权＂上收＂与实施管理重心＂下移＂、建立＂市—区—镇（街）＂三级规划管理机构体系、整合市区两级规划部门内部机构设置形成＂大处室＂和＂大科室＂以及完善城市规划委员会制度等。     

解析《野性的呼唤》中的自然主义

杰克.伦敦是美国自然主义作家中的杰出代表,他的作品《野性的呼唤》则充分体现了战胜敌人后而存活所需的力量与勇气,表达了适者生存的原则。而巴克传奇经历及其主题思想的揭示对当今中国不能不说有其特定的社会教育意义。     

A Bayesian approach for zero-modified Skellam model with Hamiltonian MCMC

Statistical Methods & Applications - In this paper is presented the zero-modified poisson difference and present possible applications of them in the analysis of paired count data. The...     

An empirical comparison of two approaches for CDPCA in high-dimensional data

Statistical Methods & Applications - Modified principal component analysis techniques, specially those yielding sparse solutions, are attractive due to its usefulness for interpretation...     

What is Sexual Satisfaction? Thematic Analysis of Lay People's Definitions

Sexual satisfaction is an important indicator of sexual health and is strongly associated with relationship satisfaction. However, research exploring lay definitions of sexual satisfaction has been scarce. We present thematic analysis of written responses of 449 women and 311 men to the question “How would you define sexual satisfaction?” The participants were heterosexual individuals with a mean age of 36.05 years (SD = 8.34) involved in a committed exclusive relationship. In this exploratory study, two main themes were identified: personal sexual well-being and dyadic processes. The first theme focuses on the positive aspects of individual sexual experience, such as pleasure, positive feelings, arousal, sexual openness, and orgasm. The second theme emphasizes relational dimensions, such as mutuality, romance, expression of feelings, creativity, acting out desires, and frequency of sexual activity. Our results highlight that mutual pleasure is a crucial component of sexual satisfaction and that sexual satisfaction derives from positive sexual experiences and not from the absence of conflict or dysfunction. The findings support definitions and models of sexual satisfaction that focus on positive sexual outcomes and the use of measures that incorporate items linked to personal and dyadic sexual rewards for both men and women.     

Maternal union instability and childhood mortality risk in the Global South, 2010–14

Efforts to improve child survival in lower-income countries typically focus on fundamental factors such as economic resources and infrastructure provision, even though research from post-industrial countries confirms that family instability has important health consequences. We tested the association between maternal union instability and children’s mortality risk in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia using children’s actual experience of mortality (discrete-time probit hazard models) as well as their experience of untreated morbidity (probit regression). Children of divorced/separated mothers experience compromised survival chances, but children of mothers who have never been in a union generally do not. Among children of partnered women, those whose mothers have experienced prior union transitions have a higher mortality risk. Targeting children of mothers who have experienced union instability—regardless of current union status—may augment ongoing efforts to reduce childhood mortality, especially in Africa and Latin America where union transitions are common.