An F Approximation to the Distribution of a Linear Combination of Chi-squared Variables.

A three-parameter F approximation to the distribution of a positive linear combination of central chi-squared variables is described. It is about as easy to implement as the Satterthwaite-Welsh and Hall-Buckley-Eagleson approximations. Some reassuring properties of the F approximation are derived, and numerical results are presented. The numerical results indicate that the new approximation is superior to the Satterthwaite approximation and, for some purposes, better than the Hall-Buckley-Eagleson approximation. It is not quite as good as the Gamma-Weibull approximation due to Solomon and Stephens, but is easier to implement because iterative methods are not required.     

Nations,national identity and prestige

Prestige is a concept or factor that receives relatively little sustained attention in the specialist academic work on nations, national identity and nationalism. It is, however, an implicit influence in much of this literature. Evidence, perspectives and insights, suggesting that prestige is a vital element in the psychological constitution of nations, emerge from a diverse range of sources.     

Is governing board behavior cyclical?

An empirically derived model of cyclical board behavior holds that following a nonrecurring founding period, a board typically progresses through a sequence of three distinct operating phases and then experiences a crisis that initiates the whole sequence over again. During each cycle, board members become progressively less interested in the agency's mission and programs and more interested in the board's bureaucratic procedures and the agency's reputation for success in the community. Although the sequence of phases is predictable, the timing of them is not. As a conceptual framework, the model integrates the results of a variety of valuable, but otherwise unrelated, studies of governing board behavior. The cyclical model can also be used as a diagnostic tool that can enable a board member, executive director, consultant, foundation officer, or public funder to analyze quickly a particular board's perspective and potential.     

Doin’ Meth or Doin’ Math: What Client Constructions of Social Class Mean for Social Work Practice

The voices of people experiencing poverty are underrepresented in social work research, public policy development, and practice interventions. This study explored the social class attributions of clients receiving poverty-related services through qualitative interviews. Findings reveal dynamic contributions of individual, environmental, and structural factors of social class positioning and significant stress and stigmatization associated with experiencing economic hardship. Participants indicate a sense of lived contradiction, viewing social class to be the result of fate while simultaneously endorsing individualistic attributions of poverty. Results have implications for social work research and practice, as well as poverty-related policy and program development.     

Youth studies,citizenship and transitions: towards a new research agenda

A key goal in youth studies is to gain holistic understandings of what it means to be young. However, a significant impediment to achieving this has been the tendency of youth studies to develop along siloed and stratified subfields. In keeping with the goal of creating more productive dialogue between subfields in youth studies, this paper examines the intersections between research in youth citizenship and youth transitions to consider the fresh insights and cross fertilisations that such an analysis may yield. This examination reveals a sense of dissatisfaction in both subfields with traditional normative and linear models of citizenship and transitions which rely on step-wise and sequential notions of time. In response, the paper advances a new research agenda which posits more temporally, spatially and relationally-sensitive understandings of youth citizenship and transition. Drawing on Ingold (2007. Lines: A brief history. London: Routledge), this agenda proposes the use of three alternative metaphors – genealogical, wayfaring and threads – which could hold the potential to unsettle the normativity and linearity of previous youth transitions and citizenship frameworks, and thus provide deeper insights into what it means to live and to be young citizens in times of transition.