Profiling long-term unemployment utilising the logit model : a New Zealand case study : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Economics at Massey University

This study attempts to fit the logit model to a random sample of data compiled by the New Zealand Employment Service on individuals who have completed unemployment spells, over the period 1988-1997. The objective is to estimate the probability that an individual job seeker, with a certain set of personal attributes, will become long-term unemployed. The regression results are consistent with a priori expectations. However, the predictive power of the model is low, lending support to conclusions from other empirical studies that have used other approaches to modelling long-term unemployment in New Zealand. That is, the current set of personal attributes on which data arc collected in New Zealand are inadequate for modelling long-term unemployment

Competing Conceptions of Risk

Recent literature is said to reflect growing acknowledgment of multiple conceptions of risk but often to obscure an important distinction. Building on work of Kristin Shrader-Frechette, the authors explore the potential for debate over competing philosophical conceptions of risk

Mileposts: Paul F. Grady; Paul F. Grady

Paul F. Grady, 83, retired Partner of Price Waterhouse & Co., died on April 21, 1984 in Boca Raton, Florida

Evolution of APB Opinion No. 17 Accounting for Intangible Assets; A study of the U.S. position on accounting for goodwill

The paper traces the development of the current valuation concept of goodwill from 1900 to 1970, when the present position was articulated. The paper suggests that there may be alternative bases for goodwill valuation and concludes that additional research is needed on the subject

Impact of COVID-19 on Ethnically Minoritised Carers in UK’s Care Home Settings: a Systematic Scoping Review

COVID-19 has impacted disproportionately two groups in the UK: healthcare workers and people from ethnically minoritised groups. However, there is a lack of evidence on how COVID-19 affected ethnically minoritised carers in care homes. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore the available evidence regarding the impact of COVID-19 on ethnically minoritised carers in UK. The relevant records were systematically searched in Cochrane COVID‐19 Study Register and WHO COVID‐19 global literature. A total of 3164 records were retrieved. Following duplicate elimination and abstract, title, and full-text screening, 10 studies were identified as eligible for the present scoping review. Most of the studies were conducted in the UK and USA, involving diverse healthcare occupations and methodologies. Multiple studies found anxiety, depression, stress, and post-traumatic stress disorder among carers with high odds among ethnically minoritised carers. Limited access to personal protective equipment and workplace discrimination was noted and linked with poor mental health. The carers reported difficulties in care delivery and managing extra workload arising from staff shortages. The risk of infection and clinically significant mental disorders was higher among carers from the ethnically minoritised background. They exhibited fear about care homes’ uncertain futures and consequential financial losses. Conclusively, COVID-19 appeared to exert adverse effects on practices and experiences of ethnically minoritised carers in the UK’s care homes; however, further studies are warranted to increase the understanding of COVID-19-related experiences of this group of carers which significantly contribute to the country’s healthcare system

The Siri epic as an ethnographic model for critically reimagining performance in Judges 5 and Exodus 15

At present, the methodological approaches used to explore performance in framed songs–specifically, Judges 5 and Exodus 15–are dominated by an inherited paradigm that largely precludes non-evolutionist models of text. This thesis argues that non-biblical ethnographic performances such as the Siri epic performance that incorporate the empirically derived insights of real or even imagined traditional performers, along with the conceptual vocabulary and epistemological categories that their reception elicits, can help us to re-imagine performance, and in so doing, unearth previously unexplored dimensions of the biblical text that evolutionist textual frameworks would otherwise foreclose. This research engages with the work of Finnish folklorist and comparative religion scholar Lauri Honko on tradition ecology, and particularly his reception of the Siri epic from Karnataka, south India. The ritual performance of the Siri epic involves embodiment, where the singers are perceived as being inhabited by deity and exhibit ecstatic behaviours. In this thesis, the Siri epic and its performance is employed, not as a direct comparison with Judges 5 and Exodus 15, nor as a hermeneutical lens through which the biblical text ought to be interpreted. Rather, it is suggested that reading ethnographic works such as the Siri epic alongside framed songs can provide us with a framework to critically reimagine performance in the story world of the text. The heuristic process of critically reimagining performance in framed songs using ethnographic works can enrich scholarship by providing a critical and empirical framework where non-evolutionist textual models can be explored, leading to new insights and fresh questions. Questions like, to what extent do the audiences in the story world of Judges 5 and Exodus 15 do literary work in the text? While this process of critically reimagining performance as a research method is a hypothetical exercise, it is also an exercise that ultimately leads scholars back to the biblical text but with a newfound ethnographically informed perspective. In so doing, this thesis emphasises the importance of embracing diversity of method, person, and perspective

The relative efficiency of time-to-progression and continuous measures of cognition in presymptomatic Alzheimer's disease.

IntroductionClinical trials on preclinical Alzheimer's disease are challenging because of the slow rate of disease progression. We use a simulation study to demonstrate that models of repeated cognitive assessments detect treatment effects more efficiently than models of time to progression.MethodsMultivariate continuous data are simulated from a Bayesian joint mixed-effects model fit to data from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Simulated progression events are algorithmically derived from the continuous assessments using a random forest model fit to the same data.ResultsWe find that power is approximately doubled with models of repeated continuous outcomes compared with the time-to-progression analysis. The simulations also demonstrate that a plausible informative missing data pattern can induce a bias that inflates treatment effects, yet 5% type I error is maintained.DiscussionGiven the relative inefficiency of time to progression, it should be avoided as a primary analysis approach in clinical trials of preclinical Alzheimer's disease