Smith and Rawls share a room: stability and medians

We consider one-to-one, one-sided matching (roommate) problems in which agents can either be matched as pairs or remain single. We introduce a so-called bi-choice graph for each pair of stable matchings and characterize its structure. Exploiting this structure we obtain as a corollary the “lone wolf” theorem and a decomposability result. The latter result together with transitivity of blocking leads to an elementary proof of the so-called stable median matching theorem, showing how the often incompatible concepts of stability (represented by the political economist Adam Smith) and fairness (represented by the political philosopher John Rawls) can be reconciled for roommate problems. Finally, we extend our results to two-sided matching problems.     

Collective and Reflexive Styles of Volunteering: A Sociological Modernization Perspective

This paper presents a theory-guided examination of the (changing) nature of volunteering through the lens of sociological modernization theories. Existing accounts of qualitative changes in motivational bases and patterns of volunteering are interpreted against the background of broader, modernization-driven social-structural transformations. It is argued that volunteer involvement should be qualified as a biographically embedded reality, and a new analytical framework of collective and reflexive styles of volunteering is constructed along the lines of the ideal-typical biographical models that are delineated by modernization theorists. Styles of volunteering are understood as essentially multidimensional, multiform, and multilevel in nature. Both structural-behavioral and motivational-attitudinal volunteering features are explored along the lines of six different dimensions: the biographical frame of reference, the motivational structure, the course and intensity of commitment, the organizational environment, the choice of (field of) activity, and the relation to paid work.     

Self-evaluation of assessment programs: a cross-case analysis

The goal of this article is to contribute to the validation of a self-evaluation method, which can be used by schools to evaluate the quality of their Competence Assessment Program (CAP). The outcomes of the self-evaluations of two schools are systematically compared: a novice school with little experience in competence-based education and assessment, and an innovative school with extensive experience. The self-evaluation was based on 12 quality criteria for CAPs, including both validity and reliability, and criteria stressing the importance of the formative function of assessment, such as meaningfulness and educational consequences. In each school, teachers, management and examination board participated. Results show that the two schools use different approaches to assure assessment quality. The innovative school seems to be more aware of its own strengths and weaknesses, to have a more positive attitude towards teachers, students, and educational innovations, and to explicitly involve stakeholders (i.e., teachers, students, and the work field) in their assessments. This school also had a more explicit vision of the goal of competence-based education and could design its assessments in accordance with these goals.     

Conditions for D A -Maximin Marginal Designs for Generalized Linear Mixed Models to be Uniform

Optimal design theory deals with the assessment of the optimal joint distribution of all independent variables prior to data collection. In many practical situations, however, covariates are involved for which the distribution is not previously determined. The optimal design problem may then be reformulated in terms of finding the optimal marginal distribution for a specific set of variables. In general, the optimal solution may depend on the unknown (conditional) distribution of the covariates. This article discusses the D _A -maximin procedure to account for the uncertain distribution of the covariates. Sufficient conditions will be given under which the uniform design of a subset of independent discrete variables is D _A -maximin. The sufficient conditions are formulated for Generalized Linear Mixed Models with an arbitrary number of quantitative and qualitative independent variables and random effects.     

Effects of resident-oriented care on job characteristics of nursing caregivers

This study evaluates the effects of the implementation of resident-oriented care on the job characteristics (job autonomy, job demands and social support) of nursing caregivers in three Dutch nursing homes. In a quasi-experimental design, experimental and control groups in both general and psychogeriatric wards were followed for up to 22 months, using a pre-test and two post-tests by means of written questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The results showed that the intervention appeared to be partly successful. Last post-test regression analyses revealed significant increases in a number of design characteristics of resident-oriented care. Significant increases were noticed on resident assignment, the two variables measuring the nursing process and, in the psychogeriatric experimental group, on resident-oriented tasks (p≤.01). The effects on job characteristics were limited. An indicative increase was shown in contextual job autonomy in the experimental group (p≤.05). The qualitative data derived from the interviews showed that there was still a partly task-oriented division of labour. Further, the delegation of co-ordination tasks to nursing caregivers had not yet been properly achieved. The study concludes with some theoretical and methodological reflections in the light of the findings.