Research on persistent pain in late life: current topics and challenges

Older women often experience pain in their daily lives. This article provides an overview of topics addressed in the geriatric pain research published between 1999 and 2004. New areas of emphasis of research have emerged such as the recognition of body mass and weight as a factor in persistent pain, while other areas have expanded, including the focus on pain among elders with cognitive impairments and the use of alternative treatment approaches. Understanding of pain in late life is hindered by study samples that lack diversity, treatment approaches that are narrowly focused, and a lack of attention to quality of life issues.     

Green supply management and performance: a resource-based view

Abstract

This study develops and empirically tests, from the resource-based perspective, a conceptual framework linking green supply management and performance. The proposed model is tested using data from a sample of 126 automotive manufactures in China. The results suggest that both green purchasing personnel and green supplier selection have a significant positive effect on green supplier collaboration, and that building green collaboration with suppliers is significantly and positively related to both environmental and operational performance. Accordingly, knowledge and skill development of the purchasing function can be recognised as an important resource in building green supply capabilities and performance.     

Prevalence of Problem Gambling Among Adolescents: A Comparison Across Modes of Access,Gambling Activities,and Levels of Severity

The high availability and accessibility of online gambling have recently caused public concern regarding the potential increase of gambling-related problems among young people. Nonetheless, few studies among adults and none among adolescents have explored specific characteristics of gamblers as a function of gambling venues to date. This study sought to analyze the prevalence of gambling among a sample of adolescents in the last year, as well as sociodemographic and gambling-related characteristics as possible predictors of at-risk and problem gambling. The sample comprised 1313 adolescents aged 14–18 years. Participants were asked to respond to several questions regarding their gambling behavior. Chi square and ANOVA tests were performed in order to explore differences between groups, and a set of multinomial regressions established significant severity predictors. The prevalence of at-risk and problem gambling was 4 and 1.2 %, respectively. Regression analyses showed that having a relative with gambling problems predicted at-risk gambling. Both living with only one parent or not living with parents at all, and the prevalence of Electronic Gambling Machines in the last year were associated with problem gambling. Mixed-mode gambling was a predictor of both at-risk and problem gambling. Our findings extend previous research on gambling among adolescents by exploring gambling behavior according to different modes of access. Although the prevalence of exclusive online gambling among the total sample was low, these results support the need to consider specific subgroups of gamblers and their concrete related features when conducting both indicated prevention and treatment protocols for adolescents.     

Older women who experience mistreatment:circumstances and outcomes

Data from Virginia Adult Protective Services (APS) case files of 95 abused women aged 60 years and older were assessed to establish demographic trends; ability to care for self; type, pattern, and place of abuse; information on witnesses and alleged offenders; and case resolution and outcomes. The most common types of mistreatment reported were neglect, exploitation, and physical abuse. The women typically had several functional limitations and were dependent upon their family members for care. Most cases were not prosecuted, and the majority of women remain at risk for further abuse. Implications of these data for future research and practice are discussed.     

Decomposing Bayesian networks: triangulation of the moral graph with genetic algorithms

In this paper we consider the optimal decomposition of Bayesian networks. More concretely, we examine empirically the applicability of genetic algorithms to the problem of the triangulation of moral graphs. This problem constitutes the only difficult step in the evidence propagation algorithm of Lauritzen and Spiegelhalter (1988) and is known to be NP-hard (Wen, 1991). We carry out experiments with distinct crossover and mutation operators and with different population sizes, mutation rates and selection biasses. The results are analysed statistically. They turn out to improve the results obtained with most other known triangulation methods (Kjærulff, 1990) and are comparable to results obtained with simulated annealing (Kjærulff, 1990; Kjærulff, 1992).     

Democratic transitions and the semiperiphery of the world-economy

The dramatic global transition to democracy of the last decade reveals important systematic patterns. Using recent contributions to world-systems theory, this study examines the relationship between political regime changes and the position of nations in the world-economy over the last two decades, to argue that democratic transitions have been centered among semiperipheral nations. The study also found a strong relationship between the structure of the labor force and the global distribution of democratic institutions, but a weak relationship between the structure of the labor force and the timing of transitions in the semiperiphery. Overall, the findings suggest that world-systemic categories provide a useful vantage point to distinguish global trends from the specific characteristics of individual nations, thereby allowing for greater analytical precision in identifying the crucial causal relations shaping transitions from dictatorship to democracy.     

A class of log-linear models with constrained marginal distributions

Summary In the log-linear model for bivariate probability functions the conditional and joint probabilities have a simple form. This property make the log-linear parametrization useful when modeling these probabilities is the focus of the investigation. On the contrary, in the log-linear representation of bivariate probability functions, the marginal probabilities have a complex form. So the log-linear models are not useful when the marginal probabilities are of particular interest. In this paper the previous statements are discussed and a model obtained from the log-linear one by imposing suitable constraints on the marginal probabilities is introduced. This work was supported by a M.U.R.S.T. grant.     

A general maximum likelihood analysis of measurement error in generalized linear models

This paper describes an EM algorithm for maximum likelihood estimation in generalized linear models (GLMs) with continuous measurement error in the explanatory variables. The algorithm is an adaptation of that for nonparametric maximum likelihood (NPML) estimation in overdispersed GLMs described in Aitkin (Statistics and Computing 6: 251–262, 1996). The measurement error distribution can be of any specified form, though the implementation described assumes normal measurement error. Neither the reliability nor the distribution of the true score of the variables with measurement error has to be known, nor are instrumental variables or replication required.Standard errors can be obtained by omitting individual variables from the model, as in Aitkin (1996).Several examples are given, of normal and Bernoulli response variables.     

The Influence of The People of Puerto Rico Project on Mexican Anthropology

In the 1970s in Mexico, anthropological regional projects were designed to explore new research interests: irrigation works, peasants, rural capitalism, and mines. Julian H. Steward, Eric R. Wolf, and Sidney W. Mintz, participants in the research project on Puerto Rico, were all popular authors among the new generation of anthropologists and were frequently cited in their thesis bibliographies. This article explores the influence of the People of Puerto Rico project at the design level of these new collective and regional projects. Students were distributed within larger areas, covering various climatic and production subareas, in their research training. The important role of cities, industries, haciendas, markets, and government programs was highlighted. I suggest that senior anthropologists and academic leaders who were planning this new anthropological era were more familiar than their students with the conceptual lines of the Puerto Rico Project. I gained greater insight into the difficulties of a regional research enterprise when I did anthropological research in the 1980s at the Tennessee Valley project.     

Identity status differences among Italian adolescents: Associations with time perspective

Based on Marcia's identity status model, this cross-sectional study examined adolescents' identity formation analyzing its association with time perspective. A sample of 1300 Italian adolescents filled in self-report measures assessing two major developmental processes: identity resolution and time perspective. Adolescents who achieved an integrated identity status seemed to primarily adopt a future time perspective and to have a positive view of the past. By contrast, Diffused adolescents reported negative experiences in the past, a lower future orientation and a greater inclination to fatalism compared to others.