Benefits and barriers to sports participation for athletes with disabilities: the case of Malaysia

The purpose of this paper was to explore the benefits and barriers influencing participation for athletes with disabilities from a developing country (Malaysia). Two independent studies were undertaken: Study 1 included a sample of 123 athletes (95 males, 28 females) who participated in the 2006 Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled (FESPIC Games); Study 2 involved focus group discussions with 14 elite athletes. The athletes ranged in age from 15 to 59?years. Data were collected through a questionnaire (Study 1) and focus group discussions (Study 2). The primary reasons for participation in sport were achievement/challenge (58%) and competency/skill development (41%). The main barriers faced by the athletes were structural (facilities, equipment, funding) and the negative attitude from the government, public and media. However, despite these difficulties the majority of athletes were keen to continue to compete. Further work is required to ensure athletes with disabilities are provided with similar opportunities to athletes without disabilities.     

OPTIMAL DESIGNS FOR FITTING A PROPORTIONAL HAZARDS REGRESSION MODEL TO DATA SUBJECT TO CENSORING

Suppose the probability model for failure time data, subject to censoring, is specified by the hazard function λ(t)exp(β_T x), where x is a vector of covariates. Analytical difficulties involved in finding the optimal design are avoided by assuming that λ is completely specified and by using D-optimality based on the information matrix for β Optimal designs are found to depend on β, but some results of practical consequence are obtained. It is found that censoring does not affect the choice of design appreciably when β^T x ≥ 0 for all points of the feasible region, but may have an appreciable effect when β_ix_i 0, for all i and all points in the feasible experimental region. The nature of the effect is discussed in detail for the cases of one and two parameters. It is argued that in practical biomedical situations the optimal design is almost always the same as for uncensored data.     

Consistency of ancestry reporting between parents and children in the 1986 census

A question on ancestry was asked for the first time in the 1986 Population Census. This paper examines the consistency of the responses about ancestry reported for parents and their children. The level of consistency was more than 90 per cent when both parents were of the same ancestry; when parents were of different or mixed ancestries, the level of consistency was lower. It was estimated that about 75 per cent of all dependent children had an ancestry response consistent with that of the parent or parents with whom they lived.     

Predicting Future Volunteering Intentions Through a Self-determination Theory Perspective

Using self-determination theory (SDT; Deci and Ryan 1985), we conducted a cross-sectional survey to test the relationship among competence, intrinsic motivation, job satisfaction, and intention to continue volunteering. A total of 180 Special Olympics volunteers from China participated in this study. The results showed that competence positively predicted intrinsic motivation and job satisfaction. Intrinsic motivation was a partial mediator for the relationship between competence and job satisfaction. Job satisfaction positively influenced intention and it acted as a full mediator in the relationship between intrinsic motivation and intention. It was concluded that SDT is a useful theoretical framework in understanding intention to continue volunteering. Theoretical and practical implications are provided.     

Combined synthetic and |S| chart for monitoring process dispersion

This article proposes a multivariate control chart, the syn-|S| chart, which comprises a standard |S| subchart and a multivariate synthetic sample generalized variance |S| (synthetic |S|) subchart, for detecting shifts in the covariance matrix of a multivariate normally distributed process. A procedure for the optimal design of the syn-|S| chart by minimizing the average extra quadratic loss is provided. The syn-|S| chart has better overall performance compared to the synthetic |S| chart and the standard |S| chart, based on the zero-state and steady-state modes. An example is given to illustrate the operation of the synthetic |S| chart.     

Correlates of welfare dependency among immigrants in Australia

"This article investigates some of the factors that are associated with welfare dependency among immigrants in Australia. It examines the role of factors such as gender, age, migration category, birthplace, period of arrival and educational background in explaining immigrants' dependence on government pensions and benefits as their main source of income." The author finds that there are "significant differences in welfare dependency...by birthplace and migration category even after controlling for age, education and employment status. Immigrants from Vietnam, Lebanon and Turkey were more likely than others to be dependent on welfare. Refugees were also more likely than other immigrants to be dependent on welfare; however the effect of refugee status on welfare dependency diminished with duration of residence in Australia."     

A Global Labor Market: Factors Motivating the Sponsorship and Temporary Migration of Skilled Workers to Australia1

The recruitment of skilled foreign workers is becoming increasingly important to many industrialized countries. This paper examines the factors motivating the sponsorship and temporary migration of skilled workers to Australia under the temporary business entry program, a new development in Australia's migration policy. The importance of labor demand in the destination country in stimulating skilled temporary migration is clearly demonstrated by the reasons given by employers in the study while the reasons indicated by skilled temporary migrants for coming to work in Australia show the importance of both economic and non‐economic factors in motivating skilled labor migration.