Sustainable business – Leading yourself and business into the future

Abstract

In the industrial era the development and use of the term ‘economic efficiency’ was too narrow. The exclusive one-sided focus on financial success led to consequences with yet unforeseeable risks and dangers. We must radically redefine economic efficiency if we want to foster well-known and needed sustainable living conditions on earth. To act in an economical fashion must imply value creation for the company, the environment and society. The evaluation of economic success must take all three criteria of value into account equally. To achieve such sustainable win-win-win situations, the full utilization of employee and business partner potential is required. Only an evolving culture of cooperation at all levels will ensure best solutions for developing and maintaining a healthy life base, leading away from the paradigm of absolute competition. Ways and means to reach these objectives are presented: old wisdom is combined with modern management control systems and the consequent change in evaluating the success of management.     

Stochastic correlation coefficient ensembles for variable selection

In this paper, we propose a novel Max-Relevance and Min-Common-Redundancy criterion for variable selection in linear models. Considering that the ensemble approach for variable selection has been proven to be quite effective in linear regression models, we construct a variable selection ensemble (VSE) by combining the presented stochastic correlation coefficient algorithm with a stochastic stepwise algorithm. We conduct extensive experimental comparison of our algorithm and other methods using two simulation studies and four real-life data sets. The results confirm that the proposed VSE leads to promising improvement on variable selection and regression accuracy.     

Universal versus contextual effects on TQM: a triangulation study using neural networks

The objective of this study is to extend previous research on total quality management (TQM)-context-performance relationships and ‘fit’ using multiple methods. We combine artificial neural networks (ANNs) with structural equation modelling (SEM) to analyse several hypotheses and propositions. This is the first study in this area of research that utilises ANNs and a triangulation technique in the presence of several contextual factors. The SEM analyses suggest that company size and industry type may have contingency effects on some of the TQM practices and/or TQM-performance relationships. However, the ANN models have shown that these two contingency factors do not moderate TQM outcomes, implying that all organisations can benefit from TQM regardless of size and type. As well, these models show that formal TQM implementation and/or ISO certifications do not add any predictive power to the ANN models except in one case: TQM implementation and/or ISO certification added to organisational effectiveness and customer results to predict financial and market (F&M) results. The results further indicate that even though implementing TQM alone has a bigger impact on F&M results than obtaining ISO certification alone, combining the two will have an even greater impact on these results. Joint implementation leads to greater improvements in organisational effectiveness, which, in turn, has a positive effect on customer results and consequently F&M results. This is a unique finding within the context of moderator effects on TQM-performance relationships.     

电视仪式:电视人类学研究发展

相较于其他艺术现象,电视及其传播、接受、反应行为具有更多的人类学涵意。对电视仪式的揭示与探索是电视人类学研究的核心。本文指出,电视节目的策划制作与收视实践,是一种仪式的现代性表征。电视仪式就是以电视为媒介中心组织起来的结构性行为。人类学仪式借助电视这一现代传媒技术已经深刻地切入到人们的日常生活之中,发挥着重要的结构性作用。对电视仪式的研究既可以展示古代仪式的现代表征,亦可以揭示当代电视人类学的深刻意义与广阔前景。     

An Empirical Strategy to Detect Spurious Effects in Long Memory and Occasional-Break Processes

Long-range dependence and structural changes in level are intimely related phenomena and it is very difficult to separate the two effects. In this article, we present an empirical procedure to distinguish between long-memory and occasional-break processes. An extensive Monte Carlo experiment illustrates the performance of the procedure and an application to real data is also included.     

Comparison of causal effect estimators under exposure misclassification

Over the past decades, various principles for causal effect estimation have been proposed, all differing in terms of how they adjust for measured confounders: either via traditional regression adjustment, by adjusting for the expected exposure given those confounders (e.g., the propensity score), or by inversely weighting each subject's data by the likelihood of the observed exposure, given those confounders. When the exposure is measured with error, this raises the question whether these different estimation strategies might be differently affected and whether one of them is to be preferred for that reason. In this article, we investigate this by comparing inverse probability of treatment weighted (IPTW) estimators and doubly robust estimators for the exposure effect in linear marginal structural mean models (MSM) with G-estimators, propensity score (PS) adjusted estimators and ordinary least squares (OLS) estimators for the exposure effect in linear regression models. We find analytically that these estimators are equally affected when exposure misclassification is independent of the confounders, but not otherwise. Simulation studies reveal similar results for time-varying exposures and when the model of interest includes a logistic link.     

英语歧义现象及其积极作用

歧义是一种语言形式能够表达两种或两种以上意义的语言现象，它普遍存在于世界各种语言中。一般认为歧义会有碍交流，但如果人们加以巧妙运用，却也能起到积极的作用，更好地达到某一交际目的。文章主要分析了几类英语歧义现象以及歧义在幽默笑话、广告、文学作品中的积极运用。     

后危机背景下大学生就业能力及其结构维度的构建研究简

文章针对后危机背景下对大学生能力素质的新要求，探讨了大学生就业能力的概念和结构，并从我国当前经济社会发展阶段与高等教育、社会文化观念、学生就业的实际情况出发，形成了大学生就业能力的五个维度，即基础能力、专业能力、个人特质、适应能力及实践创新能力。     

The Role of Criminal Social Identity in the Relationship between Criminal Friends and Criminal Thinking Style within a Sample of Recidivistic Prisoners

Previous research suggests a direct relationship between criminal friends and criminal thinking style; however, social identity theory proposes that identity mediates the impact of social group members on development of thinking styles. This research project is the first attempt to empirically test the mediating role of criminal social identity in the development of criminal thinking styles within a recidivistic prison sample (N = 312). The structural equation model of criminal thinking style presented and tested in this study supports the central predictions of social identity theory, with findings demonstrating an indirect effect of antisocial friend associations on criminal thinking through in-group affect and in-group ties with criminal in-group members that reflect two of three dimensions of the measure of criminal social identity applied in the current study. Further implications in relation to theory and previous studies are discussed.     

Neighborhood Conditions,Parenting, and Adolescent Functioning

ABSTRACT

This study examined youth self-reported data from a 4-year longitudinal study of 5th and 8th grade youth and their parents. Relationships between neighborhood conditions, parenting, and youth antisocial behavior were tested using structural equation modeling. The findings of this study appear to suggest there are two social forces that affect youth antisocial behavior: parenting and neighborhood conditions. Higher levels of parental acceptance and monitoring are directly and significantly associated with lower levels of youth antisocial behavior, as are higher levels of community social integration and lower levels of youth loneliness. Overall, it was found that some measures of neighborhood conditions and some measures of parenting were relatively equally predictive of youth antisocial behavior. Other measures of neighborhood conditions were predictive of parenting, but not strongly enough to also impact adolescent functioning.