A fully nonparametric approach in survival models with explanatory variables

The most widely used model for multidimensional survival analysis is the Cox model. This model is semi-parametric, since its hazard function is the product of an unspecified baseline hazard, and a parametric functional form relating the hazard and the covariates. We consider a more flexible and fully nonparametric proportional hazards model, where the functional form of the covariates effect is left unspecified. In this model, estimation is based on the maximum likelihood method. Results obtained from a Monte-Carlo experiment and from real data are presented. Finally, the advantages and the limitations of the approacha are discussed.     

The Instruction set of Questionnaires can Affect the Structure of the Data: Application to Self-Rated State Anxiety

The present study tested the assumption that self-ratings, such as those used for measuring state anxiety, do not measure a one-dimensional transcendent entity but involve decisions based on a multi-dimensional judgment. Two groups of subjects were presented with a balanced nine-item state anxiety questionnaire. Each group received a different set of instructions (a standard set and an altered instruction set suggesting unidimensionality of the questions in the questionnaire). It was hypothesized that this change in instructions would impact the structure of the data. The impact of the instructions was detectable at the level of the observed correlation between the negative and positive composites, Cohen's (1988) q=–0.27$. A multigroup confirmatory factor analysis showed that positive and negative wording factors correlated more strongly when unidimensionality was suggested than when standard instructions were used, q=–0.54. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Measuring the adoption of innovation. A typology of EU countries based on the Innovation Survey

Based on the Community Innovation Survey, this paper suggests new indicators of innovation adoption. The magnitude of innovation adoption is assessed for 22 EU countries and different industries. The most striking feature is the correlation between the innovation activities and the adoption rate. Countries with strong R&D and human resources and high innovation output exhibit the highest adoption rates. This supports the idea that innovation adoption requires an absorption capability. In addition, the specificities of each country regarding the prevailing types of innovation and adoption (product or process, cooperation-based adoption or internal adoption) allow us to draw up a typology of the EU countries, for which a specific geographical pattern is observed.     

“Sensory Ordering” in Nurses' Clinical Decision‐Making: Making Visible Senses,Sensing, and “Sensory Work” in the Hospital

The objective of this article is to present a study on the constitutive role of senses in clinical decision‐making. The methodology is based on a series of focus groups with nurses in various hospital departments. Based on a narrative approach, our study examines “sensory work” in clinical decision‐making in order to reveal its specificity in the clinical work of nurses. Nurses shared stories—in focus groups—about the influence of senses in clinical decision‐making. The analysis of clinical narratives helped to identify various situations revealing the “sensory work” that underlines clinical decision‐making. We put the emphasis on the spectrum of sensory activities and the interactions occurring during a clinical decision‐making. One specific contribution of our study is to make visible the “sensory ordering” at work as constituted by interactions between nurses during a clinical assessment.     

Des carrières aux parcours… en passant par la compétence

Do the social uses of the notion of competence affect operatives’ careers? A linkage between competency-based-management and careers is not to be taken for granted when competence is seen in relation to changes in work. In France, “policies of competence” entail modifying the specifications for managing the future of wage-earners, since a rationale grounded on the idea of a career yields to one based on the notion of an itinerary. Firms have supported the latter as a way to make mobility more fluid and to ensure the recognition of qualifications. However, this rationale based on occupational itineraries runs afoul of the segmented in-house labor market, which unfailingly turns an itinerary into an obstacle course. As a result, careers are “deinstitutionalized”, a trend to be related to the gradual institutionalization of “secure itineraries” with incentives coming from public employment and training policies. Invoking competence in order to make itineraries secure is part of an argument about the “destabilization of employment” that justifies delegating to individuals the management of their future and legitimates the idea that employability is to be the major counterpart for motivating wage-earners. For lack of new regulations for work throughout the life course, the rationale of an itinerary risks making the marketplace the major source of (dis)order in personal destinies.     

Fordern und f?rdern

The group manager, who has close contact with his employees, is especially adequate to support these according to their interests and abilities. In this study we identified 12 leadership behaviors that enhance employees?? competencies and career advancement by analyzing 36 interviews with (potential) managers from companies operating in the fields of science and technology. These behaviors contain both ways of supporting through direct contact (feedback, training measures, promotion, trust, instrumental and informational support, management by objectives, emotional support and appraisal, recognizing potential, role model behavior) as well as ways of supporting by providing a competence and career enhancing job design (delegation of challenging tasks, job control, person-job-fit). The outcome shows that that job design is a key factor. In addition, the company??s role turned out to be another major factor influencing the employee??s professional progress. Practical recommendations for enhancing employee??s motivation and empowerment are given. These can also be the base for future related additional research.     

What is learned during the first moments of work?

The supervision of internships is often based on common sense. However, learning processes at workplace and their conditions remain partly unknown: what is really learned and under what conditions? Two studies on the learning of social working have been conducted, based on work analysis theories and methods. 6 experienced social workers and 4 interns in their first year of training have been interviewed according to the method of "explicitation" interview. The results show that professional learning can occur anyplace, anytime, under certain conditions and under certain forms that have been analyzed. These studies try to analyze the first internship as an entrance into a culture, through a psychological perspective.