Le diable et les prolétaires. Le travail dans les mines de Potosi, Bolivie

For miners in Potosi, Bolivia, mining is more than a victory for acquiring underground wealth thanks to hard work and human know-how. This intrusion into an underworld understood to be the dwelling-place of ancestors, devils and wild forces is a ritualized activity, both a pilgrimage and an initiation. Learning the job and doing the work are conditioned by the diabolic divinity of the mineral world indwelling the miners' bodies. Mine work is examined from the angle of workers, bodily experiences so as to explore both the quite intimate grounds of the occupational identity of miners and the imagery that, in the Andes, emerged with miners as a social category distinct from the peasantry.     

How to support families of children with disabilities? An exploratory study of social support services

Support services to families of children with disabilities have previously been documented. While the effectiveness and consequences of some support strategies have been defined, their comparison remains problematic primarily because of the diversified existing definitions. The present study aimed to elaborate and validate a typology to describe different types of support that can be offered to families of children with disabilities. A review of literature highlighted a variety of support services and allowed a categorical grouping. Content analysis ensured that each category was defined distinctively. Afterwards, a panel of experts and representatives of organizations from seven developed countries (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Sweden and Switzerland) validated the typology. A database of services offered in these countries was created. The resulting typology was divided into four categories related to the family needs: support, respite, child minding and emergency support. Each type of support can be illustrated within organizations in the database. As such, social workers can use the defined typology to identify the needs of families of children with disabilities and suggest alternatives when services are not available. Overall, the described typology should facilitate discussion between stakeholders and families by providing a common communication system.     

‘Let's share!’ The mediating role of employees' self-determination in the relationship between transformational and shared leadership and perceived knowledge sharing among peers

Building on social-exchange and self-determination theory, this study aimed to contribute to the scholarly literature on leadership and knowledge sharing by simultaneously testing how shared and transformational leadership and their interrelatedness may foster employees' perceptions of knowledge sharing behaviour among peers. Additionally, we investigated the mediating role of employees' basic psychological needs satisfaction (in terms of autonomy, competence and relatedness, respectively) as an additional explanatory mechanism to reveal how shared and transformational leadership may foster individuals' perceptions of knowledge sharing behaviour among peers. We employed PLS structural equation modelling to analyse survey data obtained from professionals in an R&D unit of a knowledge-intensive firm. We found shared leadership to be the most important factor enhancing employees' perceptions of knowledge sharing among peers, both directly and indirectly through employees' satisfaction of the need for autonomy. Transformational leadership was found to foster employees' knowledge sharing ultimately, through shared leadership and the need for autonomy satisfaction. We concluded that shared forms of leadership supplemented with transformational leadership on the part of formal leaders are important in contemporary work environments as they can foster employees' perceptions of knowledge sharing among peers and contribute towards employees' self-determination, which ultimately enhances perceptions of knowledge sharing among peers.     

Modeling initiation into drug injection among street youth

This study aimed at examining the predictors of initiation into drug injection among street youth using social cognitive theory framework. A prospective cohort study based on semi-annual interviews was carried out. Psychosocial determinants referred to avoidance of initiation. Other potential predictors were: sociodemographic characteristics, relationships with injectors, parent's substance misuse, drug use patterns, homelessness, survival sex, sexual abuse. Independent predictors were identified using Cox proportional hazards regression models. Among the 352 participants, high control beliefs about avoidance of initiation was protective while younger age, daily alcohol consumption, heroin use, cocaine use, and survival sex all increased risk of initiation. Preventive strategies targeting street youth should both enhance youth's control beliefs and actual control over their substance use and improve their life conditions.     

A Cross-National Examination of the Effect of the Schwartz Cultural Dimensions on PISA Performance Assessments

In recent years, PISA assessments have become more frequent, and transnational policy borrowing and policy adaptation have steadily increased, with implications on national education reform policies. The growing impact of globalization in education policy seems to have reinforced the underlying legitimacy of an educational world that lacks cultural diversity. This study seeks to highlight cultural dimensions as significant indicators of disparities in educational performance across countries in international tests. Combining data from the World Values Survey with the PISA scores, we examined how the Schwartz cultural dimensions relate to student PISA achievement at the national level. Results of regression analysis indicate that when controlling for GDP per capita, Conservatism (i.e., traditionalism, conformity, and security) remains the best predictor of PISA test results in the three core disciplines. Cultural dimensions in general, and Conservatism in particular, play a significant role in explaining academic achievements per country. Paradoxically, while globalization, in some instances, has led to positive educational policies and multicultural values that challenge Conservatism and Traditionalism, Conservatism may ultimately serve to build the group identity, social cohesion, and national solidarity necessary in this dynamic global era. This study emphasizes the need for comparative exploration that takes into account the influence of cultural dimensions at the national level. This is something that we hope will assist educational administrators to make their educational systems both more effective and more socially responsive.     

Strategy for a statistical analysis of odour influence on the mammalian olfactory bulb responsiveness

This paper proposes a global strategy for statistical analysis of odour influence on the responsiveness of the mammalian olfactory bulb, the first relay of the olfactory pathway. Experiments were performed on 86 mitral cells recorded in 17 anaesthetized freely breathing rats. Five pure odours and their binary mixture were used. The spontaneous activity and odour-evoked responses of the cells were characterized by their temporal distribution of activity along the respiratory cycle, i.e. by cycle-triggered histograms. Several statistical analyses were performed to describe the influence of binary odour mixtures and, especially, to detect a possible dominance of one component of the mixture.     

Ethnic Concentration and Nonprofit Organizations: The Political and Urban Geography of Immigrant Services in Boston,Massachusetts

This article considers the geographic distribution of nonprofit organizations serving immigrants across municipalities within the Greater Boston area in an effort to identify variations in the levels of assistance available to major foreign‐born populations in the region. The analysis relies on data from the Census and the National Center for Charitable Statistics. Results suggest that geographic context matters, including immigrant settlement patterns, racial heterogeneity, and fiscal and institutional characteristics of towns and cities, in shaping availability of nonprofit resources to immigrants. These findings highlight large socio‐spatial disparities in immigrant services and challenge the wisdom of devolving responsibility for such assistance to local governments and ultimately nonprofits, as new entrants settle in larger numbers in areas previously unaffected by immigration and ill‐prepared to address immigrant needs. The research contributes to debates on the rescaling of immigrant policy and service provision and literature on the geography of integration by engaging with scholarship in urban and political geography.     

Recentering our tendencies: Immigrant youth development and the importance of context in social work research

According to Weiner’s model, help giving has various determinants such as social and individual causes, affective reactions, and responsibility. The aim of this study was (1) to examine the influence of bullying acts, the victim’s behavior at work, and revictimization on equity judgments and the perceived responsibility of perpetrators and victims; and (2) to test the determinants of help decisions. Twelve vignettes of bullying at work submitted to 133 participants varied according to the severity of bullying, the victim’s pro- or antisocial behaviors, and the victim’s antecedents. The results showed that the situation was judged less equitable, the victim less responsible, and the perpetrator more responsible, and the intention of help was increased, (1) when the perpetrator’s acts were serious, and (2) when the bullied person had shown prosocial behavior versus antisocial behavior. The help increased more (1) when the perpetrator’s acts were harmful and (2) when the victim had shown prosocial behaviors.