Background: According to the broaden-and-build model of positive mood, positive emotions are believed to broaden cognition resources and build psychological resiliency, to help incur positive psychological outcomes. Aim: We examined hope as a potential mediator of the association between positive mood and suicide protection (viz., life satisfaction and reasons for living) in adults. We hypothesized that positive mood would be associated with greater suicide protection through broadening hope agency and building hope pathways. Method: A sample of 320 college students completed measures of positive emotions, hope, and suicide protection. Results: Results from bootstrapped mediation testing indicated that hope agency, but not hope pathways, partially or fully mediated the relationship between positive mood and suicide protection. Limitations: It is not clear whether these findings are generalizable to a more diverse adult population. Also, it is not possible to rule out alternative causal models involving positive emotions and suicide protection. Conclusion: These findings provide some promising preliminary evidence for how positive emotions might help build hope agency to foster greater suicide protection in adults.

The purpose of this study was to examine attitudes toward violence and reasons for living in adolescents with high, moderate, and low self-esteem. An attitudes toward violence scale was devised for the purposes of this study. Self-Esteem was assessed using the shortened version of Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (SES). The Brief Reasons for Living in Adolescents (BRFL-A) was utilized to assess adaptive characteristics. The independent variables were gender and self-esteem. The dependent variables were total reasons for living score and attitudes toward violence score. Participants included 138 males and 95 females, ages 11 to 15 years old (M = 13.3) from a Kingsport City Middle School. A packet containing a short demographic questionnaire, Self-Esteem Scale, attitudes Toward Violence Questionnaire, and the Brief Reasons for Living Inventory was administered. A 2 (gender) X 3 (level of self-esteem) Analysis of Variance with unequal cell sizes was used to test for main and interaction effects. The significance level was set at the .05 level. For the dependent variable attitudes toward violence, main effects were found for both gender and self-esteem. For the dependent variable reasons for living, a main effect was found for self-esteem but not for gender. No interaction effects were found. An inverse relationship was found between violence and reasons for living. Significant relationships between some of the subscales of the RFL and the dependent variables were non-hypothesized findings of interest. Maleness and low self-esteem emerged as predictors of more accepting attitudes toward violence. Low self-esteem was significantly related to fewer reasons for living. Implication of findings, limitations of the study, and suggestions for future research were discussed.

This study examined emotional empathy and reasons for living in substance using college students. Participants included 49 males and 120 females, ages 18 to 54 years (M = 21.95) from undergraduate psychology classes. A packet containing a substance abuse scale, a short demographic, Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES), and Reasons for Living Inventory (RFL) was administered. The independent variables were gender and levels of substance use. The dependent variables were reasons for living scores and emotional empathy scores. A 2 (gender) X 3 (level of substance use) Analysis of Variance was used. For empathy, a main effect was found for gender but not for substance use. For RFL, no effects were found. Significant relationships between two demographics and dependent variables were non-hypothesized findings. Being arrested for a crime other than a minor traffic violation was related to low emotional empathy. Suicidal ideation was significantly related to fewer reasons for living.

The government in Maharashtra are trying to rehabilitate the informal settlements in Mumbai through the slum rehabilitation authority and its rehabilitation scheme and we wanted to learn more about how it worked and how it affects living conditions for former residents of an informal settlement and how it can differ from those still living there. This study has a focus on a specific informal settlement in Mumbai, called Gilbert Hill. Through observations and interviews with people living in the area, the research investigates resident’s opinions and experiences. Interviews with officials, involved in the planning of Mumbai were conducted, in order to learn how the interaction between formal and informal structures looks like. The results will be presented in this report and will give an insight of the life in an informal settlement in Mumbai as well as the thoughts and efforts with the rehabilitation of said settings. Our findings have been analysed and discussed in the light of David Harvey’s The right to city, displacement theories, theories about the public private partnership and what it is that makes informal settlements to persist. We have discovered that it is not as easy as to just redevelop an informal settlement according to a uniform plan. Residents have special bonds to the neighbourhood, both between each other and to the place itself. Even though the residents might be viewed as impoverished and underprivileged they still should have a right to form their future as well as their surroundings. They certainly have a will to do so.

No description available.

No description available.

People age 55 and over will dramatically increase in the next 25 years, and will comprise approximately 30% of the total population. They may want to maintain their current lifestyle, and at the same time, they will experience changes of their lifecycle stage that could affect their housing choices. Even though single-family, detached housing is the most dominant housing type in the U.S., a significant number of older adults could choose to live in multifamily housing if their motivations and background are understood. The choice to live in multifamily housing by adults in their later life may be influenced by their past experiences living in multifamily housing, and by their current satisfaction with multifamily housing living. The purpose of this study was to investigate the past, current, and future housing behavior of residents 55 and older living in multifamily housing. The research framework for this study was developed based on Morris and Winter's (1975, 1978) theory of housing adjustment and Wiseman's (1980) model of elderly migration. The research framework was comprised of five major sections: (a) Current Demographic Characteristics, (b) Previous Demographic Characteristics, (c) Reasons for Moving into Current housing, (d) Residential Satisfaction, and (e) Intention to Move in the Future. Five major hypotheses were tested. This study was designed as a quantitative study, using a self-administered questionnaire administered by an online survey company. Between February 2, 2012 and February 4, 2012, a total of 431 usable surveys for this study were collected. Several statistical methods were employed: descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation, crosstabs, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and structural equation model (SEM). From EFA, three major reasons for moving into current housing (the multifamily living reason, the nearby activities reason, and the financial reason), and three residential satisfaction factors (satisfaction with the unit design, the multifamily community, and the location) were derived. Multifamily living reason significantly positively influenced satisfaction with the unit design, the multifamily community, and the location. There was a significant influence of the nearby activities reason only on satisfaction with the location. Financial reason significantly negatively influenced satisfaction with the unit design, the multifamily community, and the location. Satisfaction with the unit design and the multifamily community significantly negatively related to the intention to move. The findings from this study can help older adults and their advisors to better understand the housing decision-making process in later life, and inform the housing industry about the perceived potential benefits and challenges in developing multifamily housing for older adults. / Ph. D.

[pt] O presente trabalho baseia-se na obra de Joseph Raz e consiste em uma investigação teórica sobre os conceitos de normas e de sistemas jurídicos no interior do positivismo analítico. A análise dos modelos de Austin, Kelsen e Hart evidencia a necessidade de reformulação dos critérios de identidade do direito. Um critério que leve em conta a atuação dos órgãos primários de aplicação do direito mostra-se superior na medida em que reconhece que as normas identificadas, de alguma forma, se ligam com razões para a ação. Porque essa dimensão prática das normas não pode ser desconsiderada, o critério proposto por Raz desponta como uma descrição melhor e mais fiel daquilo que se entende por sistema jurídico. / [en] The present work is based on Joseph Raz work and consists in a theoretical investigation about the concepts of legal norms and systems in the boundary of analytic positivism. The analysis of the models developed by Austin, Kelsen and Hart prove the necessity of reformulation of the criteria of identity of Law. A criterion that takes into account the activity of the primary law-applying organs is superior because recognizes the fact that the identified norms, in a certain way, are connected with reasons for action. Because this practical dimension of the norms can not be disregarded, the criterion proposed by Raz proportions a better and more faithful description of a legal system.

Investiga as causas históricas, políticas, sociais e econômicas que mais contribuíram para o colapso e desaparecimento da União Soviética em 1991. Como um esforço de reinterpretação do fenômeno, desde a gênese até o esgotamento da URSS, apóia-se em análises e dados de alguns dos mais conhecidos especialistas no assunto. Considera que um conjunto de elementos se combinou para tal desfecho. Aponta como causas principais: a) o atraso material e cultural da velha Rússia para iniciar a construção do socialismo; b) o isolamento da Revolução Russa, fruto, entre outros fatores, do reformismo político que paralisou a classe operária no Ocidente; c) as agressões militares que a URSS sofreu, com suas imensas perdas humanas e os custos insuportáveis de defesa, derivados da ameaça permanente que vinha do exterior, que contribuíram para exauri-la economicamente; d) a natureza ditatorial do sistema político, como elemento central, que se pôde acelerar a industrialização e a modernização em uma primeira fase, trouxe imensos prejuízos humanos por outro e funcionou a partir de certo ponto no tempo como uma trava à continuidade do desenvolvimento da economia e da sociedade; e) o esgotamento do modelo extensivo de crescimento na virada para os anos 70, a desaceleração econômica que chega à estagnação no início dos anos 80 e o acentuado atraso tecnológico em relação ao mundo capitalista, verificado já na década de 70; f) As grandes transformações sociais, culturais e comportamentais ocorridas no mundo e na URSS, a Revolução da Informação e as mobilizações democráticas em todo Leste Europeu, que erodiram as fundações do sistema soviético; g) A Perestroika, que como programa de reformas acelerou a democratização do regime político, levando à desagregação do velho mecanismo burocrático de planejamento e gestão estatais da economia, o que por sua vez gerou caos; h) As mobilizações nacionalistas e a ofensiva restauracionista selaram a desagregação do sistema soviético. O processo final que levou ao colapso da URSS parece mais uma combinação de progressivas revoluções ou mobilizações democráticas - que em muito se assemelham às revoluções burguesas, já que suas bandeiras e demandas não diferem muito daquelas levantadas nas revoluções de 1789 e 1848 - com a implosão de um sistema político debilitado e ultrapassado, onde já não cabiam as forças produtivas e sociais que dentro dele se desenvolviam / The major historical, political, social and economic reasons contributing to the collapse as well as the disintegration of the USSR in 1991 are the core aspects scrutinized in this study. In an effort to make sense of the phenomenon from a different perspective, departing from the genesis to the collapse of the USSR, data analyzed by some of the most renowned researchers has been used as a theoretical basis. In this sense, such an outcome is attributed to a series of combined factors. Not only the material and cultural backwardness of slow-tochange Russia in order to set up socialism, but also the consequent isolation of the Russian Revolution, a result - amongst other factors - of the political conventionalism that paralyzed the Western working class, are two of the main explanations pointed out. A third aspect equally relevant refers to the military attacks that Russia had to cope with, not to mention its huge human losses and the unbearable defense costs - a consequence of permanent external threats -, thus impoverishing the country. On top of that, there is - as a crucial component - the double-edged essence of the dictatorial political system for, if on one hand, it speeds up both industrialization and modernization, on the other hand, it also accounts for huge human losses, thus representing - from a given moment - an obstacle to the continuing economic and social development. A fifth chain of events worth highlighting is the failure of the extensive economic development pattern at the turn of the seventies, followed by the economic deceleration, almost on the verge of stagnation in the eighties, not to mention the conspicuous technological delay when compared to the capitalist world, where it had been in evidence since the seventies. In addition to this, the huge social, cultural and behavioral changes - which took place in the world as well as in the USSR, followed by both the Information Revolution and democratic mobilizations throughout Eastern Europe - undermined the foundations of the Soviet system. Furthermore, while the Perestroika - as a restructuring program - became the catalyst for dismantling the conservative bureaucratic structures of government led planning and management, on the other hand, it also accelerated the democratization of the political government, which produced chaos. Last but by no means least, the nationalist mobilizations allied to the restoration offensive determined the downfall of the Soviet system. By and large, the final process responsible for the collapse of the USSR resembles more a combination of consecutive revolutions or a series of democratic mobilization - very similar to the bourgeois revolutions in many aspects given that its causes and demands do not differ substantially from the ones arisen in the 1789 and 1848 revolutions, - with the dismantling of a debilitated and outdated political system, since productive and social forces in full development in its interior could not fit into such a structure anylonger

<p>This study investigates the most important reasons behind the rst-year students' decision to select University of the Western Cape (UWC) as higher education institution.<br /> These reasons were organized into a few factors for easy interpretation. The data to be analyzed for this project is a subsection of the data collected during the orientation period of 2008. During the orientation week of 2008, the questionnaires were completed on a voluntary basis by new rst-year students. All questionnaires were anonymously completed and therefore the data does not contain any information that could be linked to any individual. For the purpose of this study, only the black African and coloured students were considered. The other racial groups were not analyzed due to too small sample sizes. Questionnaires with missing information on the reasons for selecting UWC were not&nbsp / nalyzed. We ended up with a sample of size 600. The data were statistically analyzed, using descriptive statistics, bivariate analyses, factor analysis, coefficient of congruence and bootstrap factor analysis. The results indicated that the most important reasons aecting students to choose UWC were identied as good academic reputation, family member's advice, UWC graduates are successful and UWC graduates get good jobs. The least important reasons were found to be not accepted anywhere, parents / family members graduated from UWC, recruited by UWC and wanted to study near to home. The results also indicated that there were significant differences among students according to population groups, parent's monthly income and grade 12 average. Factor analysis of 12 variables yielded three extracted factors upon which student decisions were based. Similarities of these three factors were tested, and a high similarity among demographic characteristics and grade 12 average were found. Additional analyses were conducted to measure the accuracy of factor analyses models constructed using Spearman and Polychoric correlation matrices. The results indicated that both correlation matrices were&nbsp / nbiased, with higher variance and higher loadings when the Polychoric correlation matrix was used to construct a factor analysis model for categorical data.</p>