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This paper aims to explore the relationship between workplace gender diversity among peers and management aspirations among male and female employees. It focuses on whether gender diversity influences men and women’s management aspirations.

The study builds on cross-sectional survey data from the Danish public sector.

Results shows that in mixed-gender workplaces, male employees are less likely to express management aspirations than male employees in mono-gender workplaces, but female employees in mixed-gender workplaces express management aspirations to the same – low – degree as female employees in mono-gender workplaces. All in all, the findings show that gender differences in career aspirations are not just a matter of individual preferences and/or macro-structural factors but also a matter of factors at organizational level. The findings suggest both positive and negative implications of gender diversity, and hence problematize a – rather common – simplistic celebration of gender diversity. First of all, gender diversity seems to counteract the fertilization of rigid stereotypes of men and hence prevents some men from being pushed into management positions and a career ladder they perhaps do not want to be placed at in the first place.

Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further.

The findings seem to identify that the challenge of secure a large and qualified pool of potential managers might be even extra challeging for managers in gender-diverse organisations.

A more nuanced view of the implications of gender diversity based on a basic argument of gender-asymmetry. Furthermore, the study are build on a unique dataset that allows to study the implications of gender diversity across a wide range of occupational setting and hence control for occupation specific characteristics.

This paper posits that legal avoidance – employers’ search for forms of employment to which labor and employment laws do not apply – is an important driver of the restructuring of work. It examines three examples of restructuring that enable employers to avoid legal liability and compliance costs: the classification of workers as independent contractors; the use of part-time and variable-schedule work; and employers’ deskilling of jobs and reliance on vulnerable workers. None of these strategies is itself unlawful, but their impact is to limit workers’ legal protections and weaken the law itself. Employers may also experience unintended consequences of restructuring.

The purpose of the paper is to examine the current status of prison libraries, their role, services and collection in Pakistani context. It also attempts to highlight the main problems faced by selected libraries.

The qualitative research approach was adopted to achieve the study objectives. Data were collected using face-to-face interviews to find out respondents’ views about libraries in prison.

Findings of the study confirmed that inmates’ library queries are mostly related to the legal matters, and it is quite natural. One of the significant services of the Pakistani prison libraries is to help prisoners in their education. The main role of the library caretaker was to educate and offer rehabilitation programs. Unavailability of library space, lack of professional staff, limited collections, poor budgetary situation and censorship issues are the major challenges that Pakistani prison libraries are facing.

The study findings further implicate that open libraries and access to books would promote positivity within society and reduce criminal and immoral acts.

It is the first of its kind and unique study that presents the current situation of prison libraries in the Pakistani context. The study has practical implications for policymakers to give importance to prison libraries in terms of finance, professional staff and the availability of information sources.

The purpose was to find out if greater gender diversity affected male and female aspirations to be managers

Hypothesis 1A was that: “Workplace gender diversity of peers is positively correlated with management aspirations among women, but negatively among men.” Hypothesis 1B was that: “Workplace gender diversity of peers is positively correlated with perceived career possibilities among women, but negatively among men.” The authors studied questionnaires from 2,818 respondents from 13 occupations

The data only partially supported Hypothesis 1A. Results confirmed that it was negatively correlated with men, who had a 4.6% point lower probability of being interested in a management position than males in less diverse organizations. But there was no positive effect of gender diversity on women, in contradiction of expectations. Meanwhile, Hypothesis 1B was rejected.

The authors advise organizations to look for advice in studies of management recruitment strategies for solutions to these problems. As women represent the largest pool of available resources in public organizations, they say it would be wise to focus more energy on them.

The chapter “Books Open Worlds for People Behind Bars” by Gerhard Peschers gives an insight into library services in correctional facilities in Germany on different levels, ranging from local best practice examples (e.g., Berlin, Bremen, Dortmund, and Würzburg) via regional experiences – focusing on longstanding experiences in North Rhine-Westphalia, in particular the outstanding former Münster prison library which was awarded the German national Library Prize “Library of the Year 2007” – and nationwide subjects to grown internationality based on long-term integration into the library community. Fundamental issues include history and the legal basis of prison libraries as well as practical experiences on various levels of responsibility and its diverse scope of tasks, such as collection development, data processing, interior design, events, and cooperation with city libraries.

The outlook provides the state of play and the challenges regarding digitalization for the development of prison libraries.

Finally, the author’s dream of the book tree on the prison wall, which found international resonance, invites you to share the vision of dialog and tolerance across dividing walls.

Prior research on relations between mental health and pain has focused on negative mental health aspects (e.g. depression), while the literature is scarce in terms of positive aspects, such as mental well-being. This study aims to investigate prospective associations of mental well-being at baseline with pain and functional impairment due to pain in the following year.

Data stem from a Danish nationally representative survey of 5,000 adults (aged 15+) conducted in 2019 and 2020, which was linked to register data. The Short Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale was used to assess mental well-being, both continuously (range 7–35) and categorically (low, moderate, high). Logistic regressions were conducted to assess associations between mental well-being in 2019 and pain and functional impairment due to pain (among those reporting any pain) in 2020.

In the fully adjusted models, each point increase in mental well-being was inversely associated with pain (OR = 0.97, 95%CI 0.95–0.99) and functional impairment due to pain (OR = 0.96, 95%CI 0.94–0.99). As compared to low mental well-being, moderate mental well-being was associated with an OR of 0.76 (95%CI 0.58–0.99) for pain and an OR of 0.63 (95%CI 0.46–0.87) of functional impairment due to pain, while high mental well-being was associated with an OR of 0.56 (95%CI 0.40–0.77) for pain and an OR of 0.53 (95%CI 0.34–0.79) for functional impairment due to pain.

Higher mental well-being levels may be protective against pain and functional impairment due to pain. Wider mental health promotion may be considered to prevent pain and associated functional impairments in the general population.