A Multifactorial Approach to Predicting Death Anxiety: Assessing the Role of Religiosity,Susceptibility to Mortality Cues,and Individual Differences

Death anxiety is not only experienced by individuals receiving end-of-life care, but also by family members, social workers, and other service providers who support these individuals. Thus, identifying predictors of individual differences in experienced death anxiety levels may have both theoretical and clinical ramifications. The present study assessed the relative influence of religiosity, susceptibility to mortality cues, state and trait anxiety, and demographic factors in the experience of death anxiety through an online survey distributed to members of two online communities related to end-of-life care. Results indicated that cognitive and emotional susceptibility to mortality cues, as well as gender, predicted differences in death anxiety. Conversely, religiosity and age did not increase the predictive power of the model. Thus, death anxiety may be a function of emotional, cognitive, and sociocultural factors that interact in complex, but predictable, ways to modulate the response to mortality cues that occur in one’s life.     

Sexual orientation and self-reported lying

This paper examines empirical links between sexual orientation and self-reported lying using data collected in several waves of Georgia Institute of Technology’s World Wide Web Users Survey. The data include questions about sexual orientation, lying in cyberspace, and a broad range of demographic information. According to the theoretical framework of Gneezy (Am Econ Rev 95: 384–395, 2005) on the economics of deception, individuals conceal or falsify information when the expected benefit of lying exceeds its costs in terms of psychic disutility. If non-heterosexuals expect to benefit more by falsifying information, then this theory predicts higher rates of lying among non-heterosexuals. The data show that gays and lesbians do indeed report lying more often than heterosexuals, both unconditionally in bivariate correlations and after controlling for demographic and geographic differences. These empirical results are consistent with the conclusion that non-heterosexuals expect higher benefits from concealing personal information because of anti-homosexual discrimination.

试述六世达赖喇嘛仓央嘉措的心传弟子阿旺多尔济的生平事迹

本文对内蒙古西部重要寺院阿拉善南寺的创建者和六世达赖喇嘛 《仓央嘉措（ｔｓｈａｎｇｓ　ｄｂｙａｎｇｓ ｒｇｙａ ｍｔｓｈｏ）传》的作者阿旺多尔济（ｎｇａｇ　ｄｂａｎｇ　ｒｄｏ ｒｊｅ）的生平事迹作了较为系统的叙述。作者从比较多的蒙、藏、汉文献中找出有关阿旺多尔济的零散记载,把它们按年代顺序整理汇编,从而比较完整地描述了 他一生中的重要活动。这对研究六世达赖喇嘛和《仓央嘉措传》一书及其作者,有 一定的参考价值。     

Two-stage informative cluster sampling—estimation and prediction with applications for small-area models

This paper considers the effects of informative two-stage cluster sampling on estimation and prediction. The aims of this article are twofold: first to estimate the parameters of the superpopulation model for two-stage cluster sampling from a finite population, when the sampling design for both stages is informative, using maximum likelihood estimation methods based on the sample-likelihood function; secondly to predict the finite population total and to predict the cluster-specific effects and the cluster totals for clusters in the sample and for clusters not in the sample. To achieve this we derive the sample and sample-complement distributions and the moments of the first and second stage measurements. Also we derive the conditional sample and conditional sample-complement distributions and the moments of the cluster-specific effects given the cluster measurements. It should be noted that classical design-based inference that consists of weighting the sample observations by the inverse of sample selection probabilities cannot be applied for the prediction of the cluster-specific effects for clusters not in the sample. Also we give an alternative justification of the Royall [1976. The linear least squares prediction approach to two-stage sampling. Journal of the American Statistical Association 71, 657–664] predictor of the finite population total under two-stage cluster population. Furthermore, small-area models are studied under informative sampling.     

The Human‐Environment Dialog in Award‐winning Children’s Picture Books*

Picture books often play an important role in childhood socialization. Given the seriousness of environmental problems, we ask how natural, modified, and built environments have been portrayed in children’s books. To answer this question, we analyze the 296 books receiving Caldecott awards from 1938 to 2008. Two possibilities are explored with respect to content change. Growing concern about critical environmental problems, such as decline in biodiversity and deforestation, may have led to an increase in illustrations and stories about wild animals and the natural environment. Alternatively, the increasing isolation of people from the natural world may have resulted in a decline in the perceived relevance of these environmental issues and resulted in fewer stories and depictions. Our findings support the isolation hypothesis. There have been significant declines in depictions of natural environments and animals while built environments have become much more common. These findings suggest that today’s generation of children are not being socialized, at least through this source, toward an understanding and appreciation of the natural world and the place of humans within it.     

Defining Māori language revitalisation: A project in folk linguistics

The postmodern and critical movements in language policy, with their redefinition of governmentality and attention to power structures, call for localised perspectives on language arrangements. In this way, a polity, in its social and cultural context, can be understood as much as the policies it operates. In the case of Indigenous languages undergoing revitalisation, this allows us to define language revitalisation, and the vitality it should deliver, not through western scholarship but for local purposes with local ideas by examining local knowledge and preferences. To do this, a folk linguistic approach was applied to language policy research. A quantitative and qualitative survey investigated how around 1,300 Indigenous and non‐Indigenous youth in New Zealand define Māori language revitalisation from their own perspective and how they perceive the revitalisation processes and outcomes proposed in scholarship and local discourses. The paper shows that claimed linguistic knowledge not only exists parallel to language attitudes, but informs local policy ideas. The findings indicate that these youth define language revitalisation and vitality in terms contextualised by local ontology, knowledge, ideologies and values, therefore challenging the local applicability of universal theories.     

Cognitive,social, and neural determinants of diminished decision-making and financial exploitation risk in aging and dementia: A review and new model

ABSTRACT

In this article we will briefly review how changes in brain and in cognitive and social functioning, across the spectrum from normal to pathological aging, can lead to decision-making impairments that increase abuse risk in many life domains (e.g., health care, social engagement, financial management). The review will specifically focus on emerging research identifying neural, cognitive, and social markers of declining financial decision-making capacity in older adults. We will highlight how these findings are opening avenues for early detection and new interventions to reduce exploitation risk.     

Understanding the Compensation of Nonprofit Executive Directors: Examining the Influence of Performance and Organizational Characteristics

In this study we aimed to provide a better understanding of executive compensation in nonprofit organizations. We examined factors including organizational size, market, subsector, organizational type, staffing level, and organizational performance as potential influences driving variation across the nonprofit sector. The models utilize data on the population of nonprofit organizations required to file Form 990 returns with the Internal Revenue Service in order to broadly examine compensation. The results indicate associations between various measures of performance and compensation in nonprofit orga‐nizations and also suggest that different types of nonprofits may be sensitive to different measures of performance.     

What do stress tests test? Experimentation,demonstration, and the sociotechnical performance of regulatory science

After their successful introduction during the 2007–2009 financial crisis, central bank stress tests were adopted as a fixture of international banking supervision. However, in recent years a new normal has emerged where banks are expected to pass the tests, raising questions about the tests’ usefulness and legitimacy. Combining a dramaturgical interpretation of regulatory science with the idea of performativity in the sociology of finance, this article understands stress tests as a sociotechnical Goffmanian performance. With a focus on the Bank of England’s program, the paper argues that the Bank’s decision to make their tests “predictable” is an attempt to shore up central bank legitimacy by constraining regulatory discretion. This is accomplished through the use of calculative and procedural stage management techniques which allow the Bank to control the contingency of the testing process while demonstrating its objectivity. Nevertheless, the conclusion suggests that in the context of low levels of trust in central banks, routine declarations of “all clear” may undermine public confidence in the tests’ credibility and necessity. The study draws on 20 interviews with high-level regulators, financial practitioners and other stakeholders in the Bank of England’s stress tests.     

Associations Between Behavioral Inhibition and Children's Social Problem‐solving Behavior During Social Exclusion

The current study examined the associations between the early childhood temperament of behavioral inhibition and children's displays of social problem‐solving (SPS) behavior during social exclusion. During toddlerhood (the ages of two to three), maternal report and behavioral observations of behavioral inhibition were collected. At the age of seven, children's SPS behaviors were observed during a laboratory social exclusion task based on the commonly used Cyberball game. Results showed that behavioral inhibition was positively associated with displayed social withdrawal and negatively associated with assertive behavior during the observed social exclusion task at seven years of age. These results add to our understanding of inhibited children's SPS behaviors during social exclusion and provide evidence for the associations between toddler temperament and children's social behavior during middle childhood.