Does Perceived Social Support Buffer the Negative Effects of Type C Personality on Quality of Life of Breast Cancer Patients?

The present study investigated possible Type C personality–quality of life (QOL) relationship, and the moderating role of perceived social support in this relation among 101 postoperative breast cancer patients. Participants were from different cities in Turkey but receiving treatment in the capital, Ankara. Obtained data were analyzed by moderated regression analysis. According to the results, Type C personality was not related to the QOL of participants, however, higher perceived social support was associated with better QOL in patients. Also, perceived social support moderated Type C personality–QOL relation. Accordingly, patients high on Type C personality and perceived social support had the highest QOL. In contrast, patients high on Type C personality and low on perceived social support had the lowest QOL. Findings, as well as the strengths and limitations of the study, were discussed in the light of the relevant literature. As a possible clinical implication, enhancement of social support networks of the patients were suggested.     

Mean success run length

In this paper we consider mean of success run lengths appearing in a sequence of binary trials. We derive the exact and limiting distributions of mean success run length for i.i.d. Bernoulli trials. The exact distribution of the corresponding random variable is also derived for a sequence of Markov-dependent Bernoulli trials. In addition, a combinatorial formula for the distribution of any success run statistic defined on Markov-dependent trials is presented.     

Work-related factors contributing to chronic disability in low back pain

Low back pain is a costly and incapacitating musculoskeletal disorder. Prospective studies documenting the capacity of work-related factors to predict chronicity are few in number, the methodology used is very diversified, and the results obtained diverge. The aim of the present study is to investigate the capacity of work-related objective (non-psychosocial) and psychosocial factors to predict chronic disability related to low back pain. A longitudinal prospective study with two measurement times was carried out. The sample (N = 258) consisted of workers with subacute low back pain who were on sick leave and receiving compensation from the CSST (Quebec Workers' Compensation Board). Of all the work-related variables measured, perceived stress and fears and beliefs about work were associated with return to work status at the six-month follow-up. The results obtained show the importance of considering fears and beliefs about work when identifying people in the subacute phase of low back pain who are at risk of developing chronic disability.     

Statistical analysis for Kumaraswamy’s distribution based on record data

In this paper we review some results that have been derived on record values for some well known probability density functions and based on m records from Kumaraswamy’s distribution we obtain estimators for the two parameters and the future sth record value. These estimates are derived using the maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches. In the Bayesian approach, the two parameters are assumed to be random variables and estimators for the parameters and for the future sth record value are obtained, when we have observed m past record values, using the well known squared error loss (SEL) function and a linear exponential (LINEX) loss function. The findings are illustrated with actual and computer generated data.     

Asymptotic Results for Spatial ARMA Models

Causal quadrantal-type spatial ARMA(p, q) models with independent and identically distributed innovations are considered. In order to select the orders (p, q) of these models and estimate their autoregressive parameters, estimators of the autoregressive coefficients, derived from the extended Yule–Walker equations are defined. Consistency and asymptotic normality are obtained for these estimators. Then, spatial ARMA model identification is considered and simulation study is given.     

Decolonising the university in 2020

ABSTRACT

We came together as editors of Decolonising the University through a commitment to understanding the university and our place within it; to examine what else might be possible for us, collectively, in the domain of higher education. Although we do not always agree about the university– or, perhaps more specifically, about the possibilities it contains for intervening effectively in the world– we nonetheless coalesced around an idea of ‘decolonising the university’ as an important strategic mode of engagement. Here, we set out the positions that we come from in relation to the broader debates about the university and its political possibilities and offer responses also to the reviews. These are not our final words on the matter, but words shaped by the political possibilities that present themselves at the outset of 2020 and which, we hope, will contribute to the increasingly necessary dialogues on this topic.