Elements of life satisfaction among young adults in Serbia

Contemporary sociological studies argue that employment and personal life have diversified effects as determinants of life satisfaction (LS) of young adults. We have, therefore, decided to explore the three different aspects of general LS, satisfaction with personal (intimate) domain, satisfaction with family life and satisfaction with occupation (professional domain), by using the survey data on 1627 young adults aged from 19 to 35 from Serbia. The correlations between the three domains are significant, while the strongest tie is between satisfaction with intimate relations and satisfaction with family life. The analysis exposed that social variables (employment, education, housing autonomy and financial autonomy) and personal variables (partnership and parenthood) are in a diverse manner related to the three domains of LS, as well as that their effects are different for young men and women. Taking into account particularities of social context in Serbia, we have introduced functional autonomy (decision-making and acting independent of parents) as mediating variable. The results uncover that functional autonomy has little influence on satisfaction with occupation, while social variables have a strong effect, suggesting that agency in professional domain is significantly socially bound. Regression models reveal divergent and gender-specific relations of variables and three aspects of LS related to particular structural and cultural context in Serbia that sets limits to gender detraditionalization.     

Organizational design as a driver for firm innovativeness in Serbia

The area of innovation and innovation activities includes numerous aspects and changes needed to increase and improve the innovation potential of firms. Besides technological changes, organizational changes also play a very important role. Although these changes are considered within a wider innovation concept that is not limited merely to technological changes, they can significantly influence business improvement. Statistical data processing of an official pilot study – conducted by Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia in cooperation with the Mihajlo Pupin Institute – illustrates the significance of organizational design regarding the innovative behavior of a company. It also points out that some elements of organizational design give a remarkable impetus to the innovative behavior of corporations, while others can be seen as a limiting factor. Detailed statistical analysis shows that one component of organizational design, namely the introduction of a new or significantly improved knowledge management system for a better use or exchange of information, knowledge and skills within companies, has the most influence on the innovation behavior of the company. Another component, a firm's completely new or significantly different relation with other firms or public institutions (such as alliances, partnerships, outsourcing or sub-contracting), has the least influence. These analyses are of crucial importance for defining the innovation pattern related to corporation management.     

Terminological databanks as the bodies of knowledge: Slovenian public relations terminology

The aim of the research project Terminology Databanks as the Bodies of Knowledge: The Model for the Systematisation of Terminologies is to compile a dictionary of Slovenian public relations, with 2000 entries. The terms will be explained and translated into English, with typical context, examples. From July 2013, the dictionary will be publicly available on www.termania.net.     

Diathesis stress or differential susceptibility? testing longitudinal associations between parenting,temperament, and children's problem behavior

In this study we investigated longitudinal associations among parenting, children's temperamental negative affectivity, and internalizing and externalizing behavior. Second, we tested whether findings confirmed the diathesis‐stress model or differential susceptibility theory when conducting stringent interaction tests. The sample included 129 children and their families. Parenting quality (age 5) was measured by parent–child interaction observations. Parents evaluated child negative affectivity (age 7) and teachers reported on problem behavior (age 12). Multiple regression analyses revealed an interaction effect of negative affectivity and parenting on externalizing behavior. Visual inspection suggested ‘for better and for worse’ effects of parenting for children with negative affectivity. However, more stringent tests failed to show convincing evidence for differential susceptibility theory. For internalizing behavior, negative affectivity may render children vulnerable regardless of parenting. Our results point at the importance of further testing interaction effects to distinguish between differential susceptibility theory and the diathesis‐stress model.     

Discriminative Assumptions of Utilitarian Bioethics Regarding Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities

'Bioutilitarianism', which is a position presented by the well-known utilitarian philosophers Helga Kuhse, James Rachels and Peter Singer, views the potential existence of infants with intellectual disabilities as less valuable than the existence of 'normal' infants. I will argue that their arguments are based on misleading and biased information about the characteristics of individuals with intellectual disabilities and their quality of life. By ignoring the social constructionist dimension of disability the bioutilitarians make questionable moral conclusions. Also, the underlying assumption of their position is an 'intelligist' intuition, namely that intellectually 'normal' human beings are morally more valuable than human beings with intellectual disabilities. I contend that there is no reasonable basis for viewing infants with intellectual disabilities as being less entitled to life than 'normal' infants or for considering people with intellectual disabilities as less valuable than 'normal' people.     

Some matrix results related to a partitioned singular linear model

Consider the linear model (y, Xβ V), where the model matrix X may not have a full column rank and V might be singular. In this paper we introduce a formula for the difference between the BLUES of Xβ under the full model and the model where one observation has been deleted. We also consider the partitioned linear regression model where the model matrix is (X₁: X₂) the corresponding vector of unknown parameters being (β′₁ : β′₂)′. We show that the BLUE of X₁ β₁ under a specific reduced model equals the corresponding BLUE under the original full model and consider some interesting consequences of this result.     

Stochastic approximation methods in linear regression models (with consideration of errors in the regressors) 1

Usually, the dependence in stationary processes is described by a set of coefficients. In this paper, a measure of dependence is proposed which can be used instead of the autocorrelation function, and another measure for the dependence between two processes instead of cross-correlation function and coherence coefficients. In the end, an improvement of extrapolation of a process is investigated which is caused by the knowledge of another related process.