The maximization of determinants of block Toeplitz matrices with applications in optimal design theory

We consider the maximization of the determinant of the trigonometric moment matrix of a matrix measure on the unit circle. The results are analog to those obtained by Dette and Studden (2005) for moment matrices of matrix measures on a compact interval. A statistical application in optimal design theory is considered and we present several optimal designs for Fourier regression models.     

Educational assortative mating: a micro‐educational approach

This article presents a new way of analysing educational assortative mating patterns, using a detailed ‘micro‐educational’ classification capturing both hierarchical and horizontal forms of educational differentiation. Taking advantage of rich Danish population data, we apply log‐linear models that include four ways of measuring educational homogamy patterns: (a) by returns to education, (b) by macro‐education (five aggregated levels), (c) by field of study (16 categories), and (d) by a disaggregated micro‐educational classification, combining levels and fields of study (54 groups). Our results show declines in educational homogamy from 1984 to 2013, but the odds ratios of being educationally homogamous at the university college and university levels remain of substantial magnitude, by both the macro‐ and micro‐educational measures. The micro‐educational classification outperforms all other measures in explaining the associations in the homogamy tables. The income measure (‘returns to education’) does a particularly poor job of explaining homogamy patterns from 1984 to 2013.     

Self-help for stress and burnout without therapist contact: An online randomised controlled trial

Interventions designed to reduce stress and burnout may be costly and access is limited. This study examined the effectiveness of a self-help book, using Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to target stress and burnout in a randomised controlled online trial without any therapist contact. Participants were recruited through a newsletter of a health insurance company. Participants (N?=?119) who reported at least moderate levels of stress were randomly assigned to an immediate intervention (n?=?61) or a waitlist group (n?=?58). Measures before and after the intervention assessed stress, burnout (primary outcomes), depression, well-being, emotion regulation (secondary outcomes) and ACT-specific constructs. Compared to the waitlist group, participants in the immediate intervention group reported lower stress and burnout and higher psychological flexibility at post-assessment. Effects between groups were large for stress (d?=?0.9), moderate to large for burnout (d?=?0.5–0.8) and large for psychological flexibility (d?=?0.8). All primary and most secondary outcomes and ACT processes continued to improve in the 3-month-follow-up period. Results suggest that an ACT self-help book without any therapist contact is effective in reducing stress and burnout for various occupations. Thus, it may provide a cost-effective public health intervention for reducing stress and burnout.     

Black lives matter,capital, and ideology: Spiraling out from India

Piketty's propositions for arresting inequality are discussed through the lens of racism/casteism. We focus on the case of India's George Floyds—the persistence of caste and tribe oppression under economic growth in India—through the insights of our long‐term ethnographic research. We show that inequalities are intimately tied to dynamics of capitalist accumulation in which racial/ethnic/caste/tribe and gender difference is crucial. We argue for an analysis that truly integrates ideology and the dynamics of political economy. The wider implications, we argue are political; they lie in the question of what is to be done. Despite his ambitions to decenter economics, Piketty remains trapped in the logic of economics for what he proposes are essentially economic reforms within capitalism. Moreover, ideological change cannot be a matter of choice only, and cannot be challenged solely at the level of ideas around economic inequality. It will also have to be fought as a direct contest of oppressive ideologies such as racism, casteism, and patriarchy, leading to new counter‐hegemonic positions. We will argue that this takes us from a global history of ideology to a global anthropology of praxis. A first step is to genuinely center conversations with disciplines like anthropology, sociology, and subaltern history studying people and voices from below and from the margins, and the perspectives of scholars and activists from below and from the margins.     

Children’s health-related life-styles: how parental child care affects them

This paper examines parental influence on school children??s everyday activities that are related to a healthy or an unhealthy lifestyle. Using the Danish Time-Use and Consumption Survey from 2008/2009 with information on fathers??, mothers?? and children??s time use, we found no evidence of a relationship between parental working hours and children??s time allocations, while a 1-h increase in parental child care reduces the time children spent on TV/computer games by 12?C19?min. We also found a relationship between parents?? and their children??s time use, as the amounts of time the two generations spent on exercise were positively correlated, which indicates that parental time use on some healthy activities affects children??s lifestyle behavior more than parental child care.     

Masturbation Experiences of Swedish Senior High School Students: Gender Differences and Similarities

Research about masturbation tends to be limited to the assessment of masturbation incidence and frequency. Consequently, little is known about what people experience connected to masturbation. This might be one reason why theoretical approaches that specifically address the persistent gender gap in masturbation frequency are lacking. The aim of the current study was to explore several aspects of masturbation in young men and women, and to examine possible associations with their social backgrounds and sexual histories. Data from 1,566 women and 1,452 men (ages 18 to 22) from 52 Swedish senior high schools were analyzed. Comparisons between men and women were made regarding incidence of and age at first masturbation, the use of objects (e.g., sex toys), fantasies, and sexual functioning during masturbation, as well as about their attitudes toward masturbation and sexual fantasies. Cluster analysis was carried out to identify similarities between and differences within the gender groups. While overall more men than women reported experience with several of the investigated aspects, cluster analyses revealed that a large proportion of men and women reported similar experiences and that fewer experiences are not necessarily associated with negative attitudes toward masturbation. Implications of these findings are discussed in consideration of particular social backgrounds.     

Random projections for Bayesian regression

This article deals with random projections applied as a data reduction technique for Bayesian regression analysis. We show sufficient conditions under which the entire d-dimensional distribution is approximately preserved under random projections by reducing the number of data points from n to \(k\in O({\text {poly}}(d/\varepsilon ))\) in the case \(n\gg d\). Under mild assumptions, we prove that evaluating a Gaussian likelihood function based on the projected data instead of the original data yields a \((1+O(\varepsilon ))\)-approximation in terms of the \(\ell _2\) Wasserstein distance. Our main result shows that the posterior distribution of Bayesian linear regression is approximated up to a small error depending on only an \(\varepsilon \)-fraction of its defining parameters. This holds when using arbitrary Gaussian priors or the degenerate case of uniform distributions over \(\mathbb {R}^d\) for \(\beta \). Our empirical evaluations involve different simulated settings of Bayesian linear regression. Our experiments underline that the proposed method is able to recover the regression model up to small error while considerably reducing the total running time.     

Andere Positionierungen?! Analytische und politische Perspektiven dekolonialistischer Sozial- und Kulturtheorie in und aus Lateinamerika

The contribution discusses fundamental problematics of decolonialist social and cultural theory. Using the examples of the approaches of five authors – Aníbal Quijano, Enrique Dussel, Catherine Walsh, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Néstor García Canclini –, the text explores how the historicial construction of alterity was countered theoretically. Finally the article makes the case that the reactions to alterity – understood as based on social rank and cultural codes – are analytically described more precisely and politically better manageable by the notion of positioning than by any other concept of the decolonial debate.     

Konfliktmoderation mit Gruppen

One professional form of conflict resolution known as ‘mediation’ has itself established globally as an accepted alternative to litigation within the past four decades—albeit most notably for dyadic conflict between two individuals. Conflicts involving a higher number of parties both within and between social groups in organizations or public communities are far more complex and much tougher to be defined than in dyadic settings. They require an expanded repertoire of intervention techniques and more advanced competencies of neutrals as—in addition to the resolution efforts—the conflicting parties’ group dynamics demands attention and participative facilitation. Moreover, this type of conflict is difficult to study. An action strategy for professional group-based conflict resolution is exemplified and contrasted to dyadic mediation of conflict. Based on the analysis, problems for future research are outlined.     

Imagined futures: fictional expectations in the economy

Starting from the assumption that decision situations in economic contexts are characterized by fundamental uncertainty, this article argues that the decision-making of intentionally rational actors is anchored in fictions. “Fictionality” in economic action is the inhabitation in the mind of an imagined future state of the world and the beliefs in causal mechanisms leading to this future state. Actors are motivated in their actions by the imagined future and organize their activities based on these mental representations. Since these representations are not confined to empirical reality, fictional expectations are also a source of creativity in the economy. Fictionality opens up a way to an understanding of the microfoundations of the dynamics of the economy. The article develops the notion of fictional expectations. It discusses the role of fictional expectations for the dynamics of the economy and addresses the question of how fictional expectations motivate action. The last part relates the notion of fiction to calculation and social macrostructures, especially institutions and cultural frames. The conclusion hints at the research program developing from the concept of fictional expectations.