Subjective and objective indicators of recovery in severe mental illness: a cross-sectional study

Background: This study aimed to determine whether subjective dimensions of recovery such as empowerment are associated with self-report of more objective indicators such as level of participation in the community and income from employment. A secondary aim was to investigate the extent to which diagnosis or other consumer characteristics mediated any relationship between these variables. Methods: The Community Integration Measure, the Empowerment Scale, the Recovery Assessment Scale, and the Camberwell Assessment of Needs Short Appraisal Schedule were administered to a convenience sample of 161 consumers with severe mental illness. Results: The majority of participants had a primary diagnosis of schizophreniform, anxiety/depression or bipolar affective disorder. The Empowerment Scale was quite strongly correlated with the Recovery Assessment Scale and the Community Integration Measure. Participants with a diagnosis of bipolar affective disorder had signifi cantly higher recovery and empowerment scores than participants with schizophrenia or depression. Both empowerment and recovery scores were significantly higher for people engaged in paid employment than for those receiving social security benefits. Conclusions: The measurement of subjective dimensions of recovery such as empowerment has validity in evaluation of global recovery for people with severe mental illness. A diagnosis of bipolar disorder is associated with higher scores on subjective and objective indicators of recovery

The Halloween Indicator is More a Treat than a Trick

This paper uses stock market returns (2007-2015) and confirms the existence of Halloween effect anomaly after the 2008 financial crisis. Findings suggest that the Halloween effect can still be observed in 34 out of the 35 countries. A more aggressive trading strategy of shorting the market during summer and taking a long position in winter yields 4.77% more than the buy-and-hold strategy. A new explanation is offered for the persistence of the Halloween effect. A positive feedback between investors’ belief and behavior causes the market to underperform in the summer and recover in the winter, resulting in a self-fulfilling prophecy

Journal of African Christian Biography: v. 1, no. 2

A publication of the Dictionary of African Christian Biography with U.S. offices located at the Center for Global Christianity and Mission at Boston University. This issue focuses on: 1. Bishop Josiah Kibira of Tanzania, Ecumenical Statesman. 2. Josiah Mutabuzi Isaya Kibira. 3. Josiah Kibira. 4. Recent Print and Digital Resources Related to Christianity in Africa

The Fiscal Effects of Aid in Ghana

aid, fungibility, fiscal response, impulse response

Synchrotron Emission as the Source of GRB Spectra, Part II: Observations

We test the models of synchrotron emission presented in Part I of this series (Lloyd & Petrosian, these proceedings) against the distributions and evolution of GRB spectral parameters (particularly the low energy index, $\alpha$). With knowledge of the $E_{p}$ distribution and the correlation between $\alpha$ and $E_{p}$ presented in Part I, we show how to derive the expected distribution of $\alpha$ from fits to optically thin synchrotron spectra, and compare this with the observed distribution. We show that there is no difficulty explaining bursts below the ``line of death'', $\alpha < -2/3$, and that these bursts indicate that the spectrum of accelerated electrons must flatten or decline at low energies. Bursts with low energy spectral indices that fall above this limit are explained by the synchrotron self-absorption frequency entering the lower end of the BATSE window. Finally, we discuss a variety of spectral evolution behavior seen in GRBs and explain this behavior in the context of synchrotron emission from internal shocks.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the 5th Huntsville Symposium on Gamma Ray Burst

The Impact of CSR Efforts on Firm Performance in the Energy Sector

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the financial performance for publicly-traded firms operating in the energy sector. The energy sector has a unique role to play in global CSR efforts because of the size of the firms within that industry, their impact on the environment, and the operational risks that come with energy production. Previous research has been conducted on the relationship between CSR engagement and financial performance in various contexts, but this research has shown mixed outcomes – in some cases there is a positive relationship between CSR and performance while in other studies the research is non-existent or marginal (Lech, 2013; Jha & Cox, 2015). Thus, the research question for this study addresses a significant gap in the understanding of this topic by exploring the relationship between CSR and firm performance in a contextualized setting of the energy sector. A regression model was used to test the hypothesis that a correlation exists between CSR and performance. The independent variable in this study is the ESG disclosure score for each firm as published by Bloomberg (2016), which represents how much CSR activities each firm discloses. The dependent variable was a series of three financial metrics – return on assets, return on equity, and EBITDA. The relationship between the independent and dependent variables was tested for statistical significance at the 10%, 5%, and 1% levels on 0-4 year intervals, with a corresponding effect size reported for each relationship