Suicidality of young ethnic minority women with an Immigrant background: The role of autonomy

Ethnic minority status and female gender convey a risk for suicidal behavior, yet research of suicidality of ethnic minority female immigrants is scarce. The authors of this article conducted qualitative interviews with 15 young women (of four ethnicities) in the Netherlands, who either had attempted suicide or contemplated suicide, and analyzed these in a narrative psychology tradition. Suicidality was associated with despair and frustration over the violation of the women’s personal autonomy and self-integrity regarding strategic life choices. Autonomy restrictions and violations followed two patterns, which are interconnected with four criteria regarding the capacity for autonomy. Findings are discussed with referral to Durkheim and feminist theories of autonomy

In Search of Humble Leaders

The significance of moderation and balance across various domains has been sanctioned for millennia and deviations from midpoints of virtues, traits, qualities, and other attributes have been described as dysfunctional suggesting a nonmonotonic, U-shaped curve. Modern scholarship and lay interpretations of the virtue of humility have neglected this perspective and appear to tacitly assume that humility is an unmitigated good that leaders should develop and that more is better. Here we show, however, that what we refer to as authentic humility, is positioned at an intermediate point between negative and positive views of the self and that deviations from this center adversely impact well-being and offer a nonlinear, inverted U-shaped curve. Such an interpretation reconciles views of humility as a weakness or strength and demonstrates its positive impact on self, followers, and organizational well-being. We conclude by suggesting that humility has costs for leaders and therefore not an unmitigated good.&nbsp

Going in circles is the way forward: the role of recurrence in visual inference

Biological visual systems exhibit abundant recurrent connectivity. State-of-the-art neural network models for visual recognition, by contrast, rely heavily or exclusively on feedforward computation. Any finite-time recurrent neural network (RNN) can be unrolled along time to yield an equivalent feedforward neural network (FNN). This important insight suggests that computational neuroscientists may not need to engage recurrent computation, and that computer-vision engineers may be limiting themselves to a special case of FNN if they build recurrent models. Here we argue, to the contrary, that FNNs are a special case of RNNs and that computational neuroscientists and engineers should engage recurrence to understand how brains and machines can (1) achieve greater and more flexible computational depth, (2) compress complex computations into limited hardware, (3) integrate priors and priorities into visual inference through expectation and attention, (4) exploit sequential dependencies in their data for better inference and prediction, and (5) leverage the power of iterative computation

Конкурс на здобуття премії за видатні результати, одержані російськими та українськими вченими при проведенні спільних досліджень

Національна академія наук України (НАН України) і Російська академія наук (РАН) оголошують конкурс на здобуття премії за видатні результати, одержані російськими та українськими вченими при проведенні спільних досліджень у галузі природничих, техніч- них, гуманітарних і суспільних наук, які мають важливе наукове і практичне значення. Присудження премії буде здійснено в 2012 році

How managers use the Stockdale Paradox to balance “the now and the next”

Recent discussions of leadership paradoxes have suggested that managers who can hold seemingly opposed, yet interrelated perspectives, are more adaptive and effective. One such paradox that has received relatively little attention is the “Stockdale Paradox,” named after Admiral James Stockdale, an American naval officer who was held captive for seven and one-half years during the Vietnam War and survived imprisonment in large part because he held beliefs of optimism about the future, while simultaneously acknowledging the current reality of the desperate situation in which he found himself. This contradictory tension enabled him and his followers to emerge from their situation not just unbroken, but stronger. Such paradoxical thinking has been empirically supported by mental contrasting research demonstrating the effectiveness of visualizing a positive future yet recognizing the reality of the current situation. This apparent dichotomy provides an important lesson for leaders who must remain optimistic, yet face the reality of their present condition, and is symbolic of an overarching, general tension leaders face in addressing “the now and the next.

Never Underestimate the Power of a Backhoe: Integrating Single Points of Failure into Strategic Planning

SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis is probably used more often than any other management technique in strategic decision making. There appears to be a greater emphasis, however, on identifying strengths and opportunities while weaknesses and threats are examined less closely. Such bias may be problematic because firms may overlook single points of failure (SPOFs), which are elements that, upon malfunction, render an entire system unavailable or unreliable. These threats and weaknesses are most often presented in information technology and engineering discussions of equipment, machine, and device breakdowns, but may have applicability in a number of other areas important to organizations including people; materials and supplies; methods and processes; and shock events—natural and human-made disasters. To be resilient in today’s 24-7, 365 days a year global business world, it is critical that organizations effectively anticipate, evaluate, prepare for, and mitigate SPOF risks that can have a seriously negative impact on a firm’s performance. The paper concludes with a three-step approach to help managers reduce and effectively respond to SPOFs. Companies that integrate the concept of SPOFs into their strategic planning could develop high-impact management skill, leading to improved corporate profitability

A method for dense packing discovery

The problem of packing a system of particles as densely as possible is foundational in the field of discrete geometry and is a powerful model in the material and biological sciences. As packing problems retreat from the reach of solution by analytic constructions, the importance of an efficient numerical method for conducting \textit{de novo} (from-scratch) searches for dense packings becomes crucial. In this paper, we use the \textit{divide and concur} framework to develop a general search method for the solution of periodic constraint problems, and we apply it to the discovery of dense periodic packings. An important feature of the method is the integration of the unit cell parameters with the other packing variables in the definition of the configuration space. The method we present led to improvements in the densest-known tetrahedron packing which are reported in [arXiv:0910.5226]. Here, we use the method to reproduce the densest known lattice sphere packings and the best known lattice kissing arrangements in up to 14 and 11 dimensions respectively (the first such numerical evidence for their optimality in some of these dimensions). For non-spherical particles, we report a new dense packing of regular four-dimensional simplices with density $\phi=128/219\approx0.5845$ and with a similar structure to the densest known tetrahedron packing.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Bridge/Adapt: A Systematic Cognitive Rehabilitation Curriculum

Cognitive impairment, including deficits in memory, attention, visual perception, executive functioning, and self-awareness, is a common consequence of acquired brain injury (ABI). Subsequently, these cognitive impairments result in functional impairments in daily life activities for clients with ABI. Rehabilitation efforts are categorized under two broad approaches: remediation and adaptation. Computer-assisted cognitive retraining (CACR) is a remediation approach using a computer platform to deliver cognitive exercises. CACR therapy can lead to improvements in memory and attention for adults with chronic ABI. However, memory and attention improvements from CACR may not carry over to functional improvements in occupational performance. Research suggested that therapy using an adaptive approach can yield functional improvements. The purpose of this project was to design a systematic cognitive retraining curriculum, Bridge/Adapt, to bridge the gap between memory- and attention-skill gains from CACR to functional improvements in occupational performance using adaptive strategies. The Bridge/Adapt curriculum incorporates the cognitive orientation of occupational performance (CO-OP) intervention approach, multicontext approach, and goal-oriented attentional self-regulation training. The curriculum includes eight modules that provide grading options so that occupational therapists can choose which difficulty level best suits the client. Clients practice adaptive strategies during simulations of instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), including financial management, appointment scheduling, and grocery shopping, utilizing the three themes in Bridge/Adapt: salience, context, and hierarchy. Clients use salience to choose meaningful goals to work on at home. Context refers to clients working on goals in varying environments. Lastly, clients work on tasks that increase in complexity with the hierarchical theme