Postconflict Reconciliation: Intergroup Forgiveness and Implicit Biases in Northern Ireland

Even after a conflict has formally ended, there is still a need for postconflict reconciliation and the building of mutual forgiveness and trust between communities. This article addresses psychological processes crucial to moving beyond a history of violent sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland. We investigated the predictors of intergroup forgiveness, in terms of intergroup emotions, infrahumanization, empathy, and intergroup contact. Intergroup trust and measures of implicit intergroup bias were also explored in this area of real intergroup conflict. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for postconflict reconciliation in Northern Ireland and other conflict areas.     

Why females live longer than males: control of longevity by sex hormones

Females live longer than males in many species, including humans. We have traced a possible explanation for this phenomenon to the beneficial action of estrogens, which bind to estrogen receptors and increase the expression of longevity-associated genes, including those encoding the antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase. As a result, mitochondria from females produce fewer reactive oxygen species than those from males. Administering estrogens has serious drawbacks, however--they are feminizing (and thus cannot be administered to males) and may increase the incidence of serious diseases such as uterine cancer in postmenopausal women. Phytoestrogens, which are present in soy or wine, may have some of the favorable effects of estrogens without their undesirable effects. Study of gender differences in longevity may help us to understand the basic processes of aging and to devise practical strategies to increase the longevity of both females and males.     

海峡西岸社会主义新农村规划与实施的若干建议

在把握海峡西岸社会主义新农村建设的战略定位、价值选择和几大主要矛盾问题的基础上,从规划定位与规划要处理的几个关系,规划实施过程中的试点、农村产业体系的构建、体制机制的创新与完善等方面提出相关的建议。     

Bringing assisted living services into congregate housing: housing directors' perspectives

The purpose of this research is to explore the impact of an Assisted Living Services (ALS) program on directors of state-funded congregate housing. Using focus groups, we interviewed congregate housing directors about how adding the ALS program to their facilities impacted their management experiences. Four themes emerged from the analysis of the focus group data: (1) importance of assisted living services for promoting aging in place; (2) "costs" of offering ALS; (3) differences in how the ALS program was implemented; and (4) organizational issues emerging from the merger of housing and health-care models. Based on the present findings, we propose a number of policy issues that need to be addressed when services are added to existing housing.     

Local policy networks in the programme Social City—a case in point for new forms of governance in the field of local social work and urban planning1 Lokale Politiknetzwerke im Programm Soziale Stadt—ein Beispielfall für neue Formen von governance im Bereich lokaler Sozialer Arbeit und Stadtplanung

The federal programme Social City represents a concept that is different from traditional urban planning, social work and local economic development as well as planning concepts in various ways. The developmental processes to be set into motion on the level of city districts:

• should make cooperation between various sectors and actors a key issue;

• should encourage them to invest into this cooperation and use the resources to be brought about by their participation and

• furthermore, the participation of various groups of the local population is foreseen.

Building up the respective institutional premises for this kind of networking and participation is part of the programme. Thereby urban planning and policies in social work and social services are to be brought into cooperation. The paper is based on an evaluative study of such local policy networks as they take place in one of the Länder, Hessen. Central results of the analysis will be presented, and suggestions for the programme's further development as a new concept of governance at the local level include some reflections on its potential for legitimising social work in community building.     

Generalized Mixtures of Gamma and Exponentials and Reliability Properties of the Maximum from Friday and Patil Bivariate Exponential Model

The minimum and maximum order statistics from many of the common bivariate exponential distributions are predominantly generalized mixtures of exponentials; however, the maximum from the Friday and Patil bivariate exponential (FPBVE) model is either a generalized mixture of three or fewer exponentials or a generalized mixture of gamma and exponentials. In this article, we obtain conditions based on the weights and parameters of the generalized mixtures of gamma and one or two exponential distributions that yield legitimate probability models. Furthermore, we analyze properties of the failure rate of the maximum from the FPBVE model. This answers a question raised in Baggs and Nagaraja (1996 Baggs , G. E. , Nagaraja , H. N. ( 1996 ). Reliability properties of order statistics from bivariate exponential distributions . Commun. Statist. Stochastic Mod. 12 : 611 – 631 .[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]).     

A Robust Procedure in Nonlinear Models for Repeated Measurements

Nonlinear regression models arise when definite information is available about the form of the relationship between the response and predictor variables. Such information might involve direct knowledge of the actual form of the true model or might be represented by a set of differential equations that the model must satisfy. We develop M-procedures for estimating parameters and testing hypotheses of interest about these parameters in nonlinear regression models for repeated measurement data. Under regularity conditions, the asymptotic properties of the M-procedures are presented, including the uniform linearity, normality and consistency. The computation of the M-estimators of the model parameters is performed with iterative procedures, similar to Newton–Raphson and Fisher's scoring methods. The methodology is illustrated by using a multivariate logistic regression model with real data, along with a simulation study.