Meta-analysis as a tool for understanding existing research literature

This article describes the rationale for and methods used in conducting meta-analyses in rehabilitation research. Advantages and disadvantages of meta-analysis, vis a vis the narrative and quantitative literature reviews described in previous articles, are discussed. Hypothetical and actual examples from the rehabilitation and related health sciences fields are used to illustrate points throughout the text.     

The Aboriginal Population

Journal of Population Research -     

National and international EDI

EDI is a vital and promising tool used today despite its deficiencies. The future of EDI depends on the commitment that business makes toward accepting its potential. EDI has the means to provide a universal system for business and management to functions to meet the needs and changes of business worldwide. This paper discusses the standards, deficiencies, implementations and changes.     

Robust variance estimation in linear regression

The standard technique for estimating the variance of a linear regression coefficient is unbiased when the random errors of the observational units are independent and identically distributed. When the unit variances are not all equal, however, as is often the case in practice, this method can be biased. An unbiased variance estimator given uncorrelated, but not necessarily homoscedastic, unit errors is introduced here and compared to the conventional technique using real data.     

Investor Reactions,Social Implications and Layoff Announcements in the UK: A Comparison between Periods

This study examined the effect of layoffannouncements on shareholder wealth. Second, itfurther discusses the social implications oflayoffs and the extent to which investorreactions towards layoffs may have changed overtime. Details of layoff announcements for UKlisted companies were gathered for the periods1980 to 1984 and 1990 to 1995 inclusive.Comparative to prior U.S. findings, the resultsshow that UK investors do respond negatively toannouncements categorised as reactive. Twofindings not established by prior researchwere: (1) UK investor reactions appear to bemuch more sensitive to layoffs in the 1990's asopposed to the 1980s, and (2) UK investorsappeared increasingly sensitive toward layoffscompared to their US counterparts.     

A proposal for a new screening paradigm and tool called Exercise Assessment and Screening for You (EASY)

The Exercise Assessment and Screening for You (EASY) is a tool developed to help older individuals, their health care providers, and exercise professionals identify different types of exercise and physical activity regimens that can be tailored to meet the existing health conditions, illnesses, or disabilities of older adults. The EASY tool includes 6 screening questions that were developed based on an expert roundtable and follow-up panel activities. The philosophy behind the EASY is that screening should be a dynamic process in which participants learn to appreciate the importance of engaging in regular exercise, attending to health changes, recognizing a full range of signs and symptoms that might indicate potentially harmful events, and becoming familiar with simple safety tips for initiating and progressively increasing physical activity patterns. Representing a paradigm shift from traditional screening approaches that focus on potential risks of exercising, this tool emphasizes the benefits of exercise and physical activity for all individuals.     

A Decision-Theoretic Valuation of Information in Sealed-Bid Auctions for Items of Known Value

This paper considers the question of how much time and effort should be spent in preparing a bid for a single item of known value sold at a first-price sealed-bid auction. A decision-theoretic approach to this bid decision summarizes the decision maker's knowledge of the competitive environment through his or her subjective probability distribution of the highest competing bid. Research activities such as collecting and analyzing bid histories are efforts to obtain additional information that reduces the uncertainty in the highest competing bid. The decision-theoretic concepts of expected value of perfect and imperfect information are used to place an economic value on such research activities. The results presented allow the decision maker to quantify the expected value of imperfect information when the uncertainty is normally distributed. The results show that additional research is most valuable prior to auctions the bidder expects to win.     

Followers' moral judgments and leaders' integrity-based transgressions: A synthesis of literatures

This paper reviews the state of knowledge about integrity-based transgressions with an emphasis on the leader-follower relationship. Our review highlighted many important contributions of this literature, but, it revealed several limitations that should be addressed within a followership paradigm. We then synthesized the integrity and trust literatures with a targeted review of moral experimental philosophy. Cushman's (2008) dual process model suggests that because followers simultaneously assess leaders' intentions and their causal nexus with negative outcomes, they might judge behavioral and moral integrity transgressions in different ways. Judgments of moral condemnation should primarily be a function of perceived intent while blame and punishment of the leader based on behavior should be jointly affected by cause and intent. This moral assessment is expected to influence followers' trust through its effect on moral identity. A framework is offered for guiding future studies of followers' interpretations of leaders' integrity-based transgressions.     

A New Measure of Quality of Work Life (QWL) Based on Need Satisfaction and Spillover Theories

A new measure of QWL was developed based on need satisfaction and spillover theories. The measure was designed to capture the extent to which the work environment, job requirements, supervisory behavior, and ancillary programs in an organization are perceived to meet the needs of an employee. We identified seven major needs, each having several dimensions. These are: (a) health and safety needs (protection from ill health and injury at work and outside of work, and enhancement of good health), (b) economic and family needs (pay, job security, and other family needs), (c) social needs (collegiality at work and leisure time off work), (d) esteem needs (recognition and appreciation of work within the organization and outside the organization), (e) actualization needs (realization of one's potential within the organization and as a professional), (f) knowledge needs (learning to enhance job and professional skills), and (g) aesthetic needs (creativity at work as well as personal creativity and general aesthetics). The measure's convergent and discriminant validities were tested and the data provided support to the construct validity of the QWL measure. Furthermore, the measure's nomological (predictive) validity was tested through hypotheses deduced from spillover theory. Three studies were conducted – two studies using university employees and the third using accounting firms. The results from the pooled sample provided support for the hypotheses and thus lent some support to the nomological validity to the new measure.