Comparing the Recognition Memory Test and the Word Choice Test in a Mixed Clinical Sample: Are They Equivalent?

The Recognition Memory Test (RMT) was compared to the Word Choice Test (WCT) within the same fixed neuropsychological battery administered to a mixed clinical sample of 237 adults to empirically evaluate the psychometric equivalence of these two instruments. On average, there was a 3-point difference in raw scores between the two instruments (M _RMT?=?44.3, SD _RMT?=?6.8; M _WCT?=?47.1, SD _WCT?=?4.6; p?d?=?.48). The probability density functions differ substantially at the two ends of the scale but are similarly ≤42. Cross-validation analyses suggest that the RMT cutoff of ≤42 is functionally equivalent to a WCT score of ≤45.     

From issues to goals: a novel conceptualisation,measurement and research design for comprehensive analysis of electoral competition

Abstract

The analysis of issue politics has long suffered from a fragmentation between valence and positional conceptualisations, preventing the effective development of a general model of issue-based party competition. Building on an overview of the evolution of party competition in the Western world in recent decades, this article offers a theoretical development that builds on ‘issue yield’ theory to provide a conceptualisation of political goals that generalises across positional and valence issues. This in turn allows a common measurement strategy, offering the possibility to comparatively assess various characteristics (including the electoral potential) of both positional and valence issues. Finally, it describes the specific research design derived from this framework and its implementation in comparative perspective in six West European countries during 2017–2018.     

Italian Utilities and Public Control: Evidence of Merger Effects

ABSTRACT

Increasing competition-induced mergers amongst public utilities may favour in Italy a reduction in public control and an increase in fair value accounting. In this context, conducting a multiple case study characterized by an innovative comprehensive approach, it is investigated how the peculiarities of the sector affect integration and the subsequent accounting representation of the post-merger entity. The findings show, firstly, the persistent will of the public shareholders to maintain control and, secondly, shed light on a form of interconnected ‘accounting levelling out’ that seems ill-suited to represent the economic reality of the most significant post-merger companies, despite New Public Management provisions.     

Realising the Right to Health for Young People in South Africa—Some Reflections

Abstract

The right to health is enshrined in the South African Constitution as well as a range of international and regional human rights treaties which South Africa accepts. Yet empirical data reveals some of the challenges faced by South African youth—childhood diseases, HIV/AIDS and such like. There are evidently challenges realising the right to health in practice. Nevertheless, South African courts have led the international field in recognising the justiciability of economic and social rights such as the right to health. Having reviewed the applicable laws and jurisprudence, the paper will conclude that a more holistic human rights-based approach offers perhaps the best way forward.     

Establishing a Social-Darwinist Mentality in Japan’s Paternalist State: The Potential of Resistance by a Counter-Public

ABSTRACT

From a historical perspective, the welfare net in Japan was established from above without democratic participation and expanded only slowly. This expansion in many cases was aimed at enhancing national cohesion, especially during war time. During the current neoliberal era, Japan’s paternalistic welfare state has been able to put into practice the dismantling of national pension and health-care systems without the need for any theoretical re-orientation. In response, counter-publics have engaged in protest and resistance. By doing so, the victims of modernization and those who are socially weak and disadvantaged in multiple ways are able to regain their self-esteem and personal integrity.     

‘Til death do us part’: surviving spouses,civil partners and provision on intestacy in Ireland

The Succession Act 1965 brought, it was said, a ‘revolutionary change’ in the law of succession to Ireland (Re Urquhart [1974] IR 197 at 208). However, despite the enormous impact it has had on citizens, in the 50 years since its enactment, the Act has never been subject to a comprehensive review or reform. This lack of legislative engagement in Ireland stands in marked contrast to a number of other common law jurisdictions. In the past decade alone, the Law Commission for England and Wales, the Scottish Law Commission, the New South Wales Law Reform Commission and the British Columbia Law Institute have each placed their respective succession law regimes under the microscope. Responding to this gap in the literature, this article considers the extent to which surviving spouses or civil partners are adequately protected on intestacy, specifically, in Ireland. Highlighting the potentially serious shortcomings of the Irish fractional share approach, and drawing on the experience of a number of common law jurisdictions, the article presents a proposal for reform. In this regard, it places a particular focus on the need to strike an appropriate balance between the competing interests of spouses/civil partners and children in the distribution of an intestate estate.     

Intimate Partner Violence in the African American Community: Risk,Theory, and Interventions

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is devastating to individuals, families, and communities. IPV is considered the most prevalent type of violence in families (Owen et al. in Journal of Family Violence, 24(7), 433–445. doi: 10.1007/s10896-009-9239-2, 2009; Williams et al. in Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 16(3), 296–310. doi: 10.1080/10926770801925726, 2008a). Unfortunately, IPV occurs far too frequently within African American families. Research suggests that African Americans are more likely to report experiencing IPV than any other racial groups (Bent-Goodley in Health & Social Work, 29(4), 307–316, 2004; Hampton and Gelles in Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 25, 105–119, 1994; Rennison and Welchans 2000). Despite this, there is a paucity of research that highlights the specific factors that may contribute to the high rates of IPV within the African American community. This article will explore the risk factors associated with IPV in this, while highlighting the way in which psychoanalytic theory can be used to understand these rates. Treatment approaches that use a multicultural framework will also be discussed.     

The EU-China investment treaty: challenges,themes, competence

China-EU Law Journal - Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) improves the global economy. Both inward and outward FDI contributes to EU competitiveness and international trade. The importance of the...     

The rise and fall of “Novorossiya”: examining support for a separatist geopolitical imaginary in southeast Ukraine

In the spring of 2014, some anti-Maidan protestors in southeast Ukraine, in alliance with activists from Russia, agitated for the creation of a large separatist entity on Ukrainian territory. These efforts sought to revive a historic region called Novorossiya (“New Russia”) on the northern shores of the Black Sea that was created by Russian imperial colonizers. In public remarks, Vladimir Putin cited Novorossiya as a historic and contemporary home of a two-part interest group, ethnic Russian and Russian-speaking Ukrainians, supposedly under threat in Ukraine. Anti-Maidan agitation in Ukraine gave way to outright secession in April 2014, as armed rebel groups established the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhans’k People’s Republic on parts of the eponymous Ukrainian oblasts. Rebel leaders aspired to create a renewed Novorossiya that incorporated all of eastern and southern Ukraine from Kharkiv to Odesa oblasts. To examine the level of support for this secessionist imaginary in the targeted oblasts, our large scientific poll in December 2014 revealed the Novorossiya project had minority support, between 20 and 25% of the population. About half of the sample believed that the concept of Novorossiya was a “historical myth” and that its resuscitation and promotion was the result of “Russian political technologies.” Analysis of the responses by socio-demographic categories indicated that for ethnic Russians, residents of the oblasts of Kharkiv and Odesa, for older and poorer residents, and especially for those who retain a nostalgic positive opinion about the Soviet Union, the motivations and aims of the Novorossiya project had significant support.