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1 – 10 of 493John A. Gonzalez, Heeyun Kim and Allyson Flaster
The purpose of this study is to examine doctoral students’ developmental trajectories in well-being and disciplinary identity during the first three years of doctoral study.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine doctoral students’ developmental trajectories in well-being and disciplinary identity during the first three years of doctoral study.
Design/methodology/approach
This study relies on data from a longitudinal study of PhD students enrolled at a large, research-intensive university in the USA. A group-based trajectory modeling approach is used to examine varying trajectories of well-being and disciplinary identity.
Findings
The authors find that students’ physical health, mental health and disciplinary identity generally decline during the first few years of doctoral study. Despite this common downward trend, the results suggest that six different developmental trajectories exist. Students’ backgrounds and levels of stress, psychological needs satisfaction, anticipatory socialization experiences and prior academic success predict group membership.
Originality/value
Although there is emergent evidence of a mental health crisis in graduate education scant evidence exists about the way in which well-being changes over time as students progress through their doctoral studies. There is also little evidence of how these changes might be related to academic processes such as the development of disciplinary identity. This study reported varying baseline degrees of well-being and disciplinary identity and offers that stress and unmet psychological needs might be partially responsible for varying trajectories.
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Daren G. Fisher, Phillip Wadds and Garner Clancey
Developing policies to curb public alcohol consumption is a priority for governments. In the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), local governments have introduced…
Abstract
Purpose
Developing policies to curb public alcohol consumption is a priority for governments. In the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), local governments have introduced alcohol-free zones (AFZs) and alcohol-prohibited areas (APAs) to prohibit the public consumption of alcohol and reduce crime stemming from intoxication. Previous studies, however, argue that these policies are driven by stakeholder desire rather than alcohol-related crime and may result in increased criminal justice contact for vulnerable populations. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the number of AFZs and APAs in NSW and examine the extent to which these policies are connected to the frequency of alcohol-related crime.
Design/methodology/approach
Examining the 152 local government areas (LGAs) of NSW, the authors analysed whether the implementation of AFZs and APAs were linked to the frequency of liquor offences and assaults using group-based trajectory models.
Findings
The authors found that AFZs and APAs were often not advertised nor inconsistently implemented both across and within jurisdictions. Group-based trajectory models indicated that AFZs were more common in low liquor offence LGAs than high liquor offences LGAs, but were more frequently implemented in high assault LGAs compared to low assault LGAs. APAs were more common in the lowest crime LGAs compared to those LGAs that experienced higher levels of recorded crime.
Originality/value
These analyses demonstrate how widespread AFZs and APAs have become and provides evidence that the implementation of is only tenuously linked to the frequency of crime.
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Based on a strategic group concept, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of resource employments on persistent performance in the pharmaceutical industry.
Abstract
Purpose
Based on a strategic group concept, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of resource employments on persistent performance in the pharmaceutical industry.
Design/methodology/approach
In departing from previous research, this paper takes an inverted approach to mapping firms into heterogeneous groups with distinct long-term performance trajectories, given that strategic profiles and characteristics were unknown. The methodology used is latent class growth analysis, a person-centred approach focussing on the relationships among individuals. Regression models were subsequently used to examine the strategy variables-performance relationship between groups and within groups.
Findings
First, firms were grouped into upper-performance and lower-performance trajectory subpopulations. Second, the effects of marketing and R&D on performance significantly differed within subpopulations and presented a U shape or an inverse U shape relation. Third, the employment of R&D resources was more effective in the lower-performance trajectory group, the average scale of which is smaller than in the upper-performance trajectory group. On the contrary, the employment of marketing resources had a greater benefited in the upper-performance trajectory group.
Research limitations/implications
Intangible strategy features are ignored due to measure problem in the long period.
Practical implications
Strategic competition is more significant among intragroup members than inter groups. That the U-shape or invert U-shape effects of resource employments on performance among intragroup members reminds the researchers that the law of diminishing return or increasing return should not be ignored when test the group-performance relationship in future research.
Originality/value
The current study introduces an effective approach to investigate the strategic group concept.
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Yiu Ming Ng, Barak Ariel and Vincent Harinam
A growing body of literature focuses on crime hotspots; however, less is known about the spatial distribution of crime at mass transit systems, and even less is known about…
Abstract
Purpose
A growing body of literature focuses on crime hotspots; however, less is known about the spatial distribution of crime at mass transit systems, and even less is known about trajectory patterns of hotspots in non-English-speaking countries.
Design/methodology/approach
The spatiotemporal behaviour of 1,494 crimes reported to the Hong Kong’s Railway Police District across a two-year period was examined in this study. Crime harm weights were then applied to offences to estimate the distribution of crime severity across the transit system. Descriptive statistics are used to understand the temporal and spatial trends, and k-means longitudinal clustering are used to examine the developmental trajectories of crime in train stations over time.
Findings
Analyses suggest that 15.2% and 8.8% of stations accounted for 50% of all counted crime and crime harm scores, respectively, indicating the predictability of crime and harm to occur at certain stations but not others. Offending persists consistently, with low, moderate and high counts and harm stations remaining the same over time.
Research limitations/implications
These findings suggest that more localised crime control initiatives are required to target crime effectively.
Originality/value
This is one of the only studies focusing on hotspots and harmspots in the mass transit system.
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Heather Prince, Cynthia Lum and Christopher S. Koper
Detective work is a mainstay of modern law enforcement, but its effectiveness has been much less evaluated than patrol work. To explore what is known about effective investigative…
Abstract
Purpose
Detective work is a mainstay of modern law enforcement, but its effectiveness has been much less evaluated than patrol work. To explore what is known about effective investigative practices and to identify evidence gaps, the authors assess the current state of empirical research on investigations.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors assess the empirical research about the effectiveness of criminal investigations and detective work in resolving cases and improving clearance rates.
Findings
The authors’ analysis of the literature produced 80 studies that focus on seven categories of investigations research, which include the impact that case and situational factors, demographic and neighborhood dynamics, organizational policies and practices, investigative effort, technology, patrol officers and community members have on case resolution. The authors’ assessment shows that evaluation research examining the effectiveness of various investigative activities is rare. However, the broader empirical literature indicates that a combination of organizational policies, investigative effort and certain technologies can be promising in improving investigative outcomes even in cases deemed less solvable.
Research limitations/implications
From an evidence-based perspective, this review emphasizes the need for greater transparency, evaluation and accountability of investigative activities given the resources and importance afforded to criminal investigations.
Originality/value
This review is currently the most up-to-date review of the state of the research on what is known about effective investigative practices.
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Lutz Bornmann, Adam Ye and Fred Ye
The purpose of this paper is to propose an approach for identifying landmark papers in the long run. These publications reach a very high level of citation impact and are able to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose an approach for identifying landmark papers in the long run. These publications reach a very high level of citation impact and are able to remain on this level across many citing years. In recent years, several studies have been published which deal with the citation history of publications and try to identify landmark publications.
Design/methodology/approach
In contrast to other studies published hitherto, this study is based on a broad data set with papers published between 1980 and 1990 for identifying the landmark papers. The authors analyzed the citation histories of about five million papers across 25 years.
Findings
The results of this study reveal that 1,013 papers (less than 0.02 percent) are “outstandingly cited” in the long run. The cluster analyses of the papers show that they received the high impact level very soon after publication and remained on this level over decades. Only a slight impact decline is visible over the years.
Originality/value
For practical reasons, approaches for identifying landmark papers should be as simple as possible. The approach proposed in this study is based on standard methods in bibliometrics.
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David McBride, Nancy Porter, Kirsten Lovelock, Daniel Shepherd, Maria Zubizaretta and James Burch
The purpose of this paper is to describe risk and protective factors for symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) experienced over a 1.5-year period among both frontline…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe risk and protective factors for symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) experienced over a 1.5-year period among both frontline and “non-traditional” responders to the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Design/methodology/approach
A longitudinal survey administered to Christchurch workers with referents from the city of Hamilton at 6, 12 and 18 months after the 2011 earthquake. Potential risk and protective determinants were assessed by questionnaire items at baseline and over time, the outcome being PTSD as assessed by the PTSD Checklist-Civilian version. A longitudinal latent class analysis identified groups with similar trajectories of PTSD.
Findings
A total of 226 individuals, 140 (26 per cent) from Christchurch and 86 (16 per cent) from Hamilton, participated at baseline, 180 at 12 and 123 at 18 months, non-traditional responders forming the largest single group. Two latent classes emerged, with PTSD (21 per cent) and without PTSD (79 per cent), with little change over the 18-month period. Class membership was predicted by high scores in the Social Support and Impact of Events scale items, Health-related Quality of Life scores being protective. PTSD scores indicative of distress were found in females, and predicted by burnout risk, behavioural disengagement and venting.
Practical implications
Non-traditional responders should be screened for PTSD. Social support should be considered with the promotion of adaptive coping mechanisms.
Originality/value
The strength was longitudinal follow-up over an 18-month period, with demonstration of how the potential determinants influenced the course of PTSD over time.
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Tao Peng, Xingliang Liu, Rui Fang, Ronghui Zhang, Yanwei Pang, Tao Wang and Yike Tong
This study aims to develop an automatic lane-change mechanism on highways for self-driving articulated trucks to improve traffic safety.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to develop an automatic lane-change mechanism on highways for self-driving articulated trucks to improve traffic safety.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors proposed a novel safety lane-change path planning and tracking control method for articulated vehicles. A double-Gaussian distribution was introduced to deduce the lane-change trajectories of tractor and trailer coupling characteristics of intelligent vehicles and roads. With different steering and braking maneuvers, minimum safe distances were modeled and calculated. Considering safety and ergonomics, the authors invested multilevel self-driving modes that serve as the basis of decision-making for vehicle lane-change. Furthermore, a combined controller was designed by feedback linearization and single-point preview optimization to ensure the path tracking and robust stability. Specialized hardware in the loop simulation platform was built to verify the effectiveness of the designed method.
Findings
The numerical simulation results demonstrated the path-planning model feasibility and controller-combined decision mechanism effectiveness to self-driving trucks. The proposed trajectory model could provide safety lane-change path planning, and the designed controller could ensure good tracking and robust stability for the closed-loop nonlinear system.
Originality/value
This is a fundamental research of intelligent local path planning and automatic control for articulated vehicles. There are two main contributions: the first is a more quantifiable trajectory model for self-driving articulated vehicles, which provides the opportunity to adapt vehicle and scene changes. The second involves designing a feedback linearization controller, combined with a multi-objective decision-making mode, to improve the comprehensive performance of intelligent vehicles. This study provides a valuable reference to develop advanced driving assistant system and intelligent control systems for self-driving articulated vehicles.
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Morten Grønbæk, R. Curtis Ellison and Erik Skovenborg
The purpose of this paper is to review the conceptual and methodological challenges of a J-shaped association between alcohol consumption (AC), coronary heart disease (CHD) and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the conceptual and methodological challenges of a J-shaped association between alcohol consumption (AC), coronary heart disease (CHD) and all-cause mortality. In associated papers in this journal, Skovenborg et al., 2021 reviews the evidence for the J-shaped curve, and Ellison et al., 2021 examines the advantages and drawbacks of Mendelian randomization studies of the J-shaped curve.
Design/methodology/approach
A number of methodological problems are common in observational research in general, and some of the methodological problems suggested for the J-shaped alcohol-CHD-associations are discussed. The extent of the methodological problems in studies of the J-shaped curve is reviewed, and the possibility that the J-shaped curve is an artifact created by reverse causality and residual confounding is discussed. Further, the issue of interaction with drinking pattern and type of alcohol is discussed.
Findings
Imprecise categorization of alcohol intake information seems to have had little effect on the J-shaped alcohol-CHD-associations, nor has it affected the ability of these studies to show increasing mortality from a range of causes with increasing AC. The problem of “sick quitters” has been resolved by large studies using lifelong abstainers or infrequent drinkers as reference group. Many studies lack information on drinking patterns with regard to regular, moderate consumption versus binge drinking. Stratified analyses by important risk factors for CHD have not significantly changed the J-shaped association observed in most epidemiologic studies.
Originality/value
Potential biases and residual confounding probably do not overcome the J-shaped alcohol-CDH-association observed in most epidemiologic studies; however, the existence of a J-shaped curve is challenged by some degree of uncertainty. The actual review together with the associated papers by Skovenborg et al., 2021 and Ellison et al., 2021 offers a possibility to “update your priors” and achieve greater certainty when giving your patients information on the pros and cons of alcohol intake.
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The purpose of this study was to determine whether core constructs from the control (impulsivity resulting from poor parental discipline leads to crime) and moral (weak moral…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to determine whether core constructs from the control (impulsivity resulting from poor parental discipline leads to crime) and moral (weak moral values lead to crime) models of criminal lifestyle development were capable of predicting crime continuance in early-to-mid adolescent youth.
Design/methodology/approach
Weak parental supervision and lack of remorse for antisocial conduct on the part of the child were correlated with subsequent delinquency in 1,850 (1,685 males, 165 females) early-to-mid adolescent delinquents. Analyses were based exclusively on data extracted from New York City probation, family court and police files.
Findings
Results from a negative binomial regression analysis revealed that both weak parental supervision and lack of remorse for antisocial conduct predicted subsequent delinquency over a period of six months, net the effects of age, sex, ethnicity, prior delinquency, sibling delinquency, negative peer associations, substance use and a felony charge.
Research limitations/implications
These findings provide preliminary support for the control (low parental supervision) and moral (lack of remorse) models of criminal lifestyle development.
Practical implications
Weak parental supervision and failure to express remorse for antisocial actions increased risk of future delinquency by 19% and 29%, respectively. Teaching parents to be more effective disciplinarians and encouraging the development of moral values in youthful offenders may be of value in promoting desistance to crime in early juvenile offenders.
Originality/value
The importance of these results is that they reinforce prior findings obtained using self-report measures with data collected from official records.
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