School Engagement Trajectories and Their Differential Predictive Relations to Dropout

Although most theories draw upon the construct of school engagement in their conceptualization of the dropout process, research addressing its hypothesized prospective relation with dropout remains scarce and does not account for the academic and social heterogeneity of students who leave school prematurely. This study explores the reality of different life-course pathways of school engagement and their predictive relations to dropout. Using an accelerated longitudinal design, we used growth mixture modeling to generate seven distinct trajectories of school engagement with 12- to 16-year-old students (N = 13,300). A vast majority of students were classified into three stable trajectories, distinguishing themselves at moderate to very high levels of school engagement. We refer to these as developmentally normative pathways in light of their frequent occurrence and stability. Although regrouping only one-tenth of participants, four other nonnormative (or unexpected pathways) accounted for the vast majority of dropouts. Dropout risk was closely linked with unstable pathways of school engagement. We conclude by debating the delicate investment balance between universal strategies and more selective and differentiated strategies to prevent dropout. We also discuss the need to better understand why, within normative trajectories, some students with high levels of school engagement drop out of school .     

Inferring multiple graphical structures

Gaussian Graphical Models provide a convenient framework for representing dependencies between variables. Recently, this tool has received a high interest for the discovery of biological networks. The literature focuses on the case where a single network is inferred from a set of measurements. But, as wetlab data is typically scarce, several assays, where the experimental conditions affect interactions, are usually merged to infer a single network. In this paper, we propose two approaches for estimating multiple related graphs, by rendering the closeness assumption into an empirical prior or group penalties. We provide quantitative results demonstrating the benefits of the proposed approaches. The methods presented in this paper are embeded in the R package simone from version 1.0-0 and later.     

Adaptive sequential Monte Carlo by means of mixture of experts

Appropriately designing the proposal kernel of particle filters is an issue of significant importance, since a bad choice may lead to deterioration of the particle sample and, consequently, waste of computational power. In this paper we introduce a novel algorithm adaptively approximating the so-called optimal proposal kernel by a mixture of integrated curved exponential distributions with logistic weights. This family of distributions, referred to as mixtures of experts, is broad enough to be used in the presence of multi-modality or strongly skewed distributions. The mixtures are fitted, via online-EM methods, to the optimal kernel through minimisation of the Kullback-Leibler divergence between the auxiliary target and instrumental distributions of the particle filter. At each iteration of the particle filter, the algorithm is required to solve only a single optimisation problem for the whole particle sample, yielding an algorithm with only linear complexity. In addition, we illustrate in a simulation study how the method can be successfully applied to optimal filtering in nonlinear state-space models.     

Convergence properties of the expected improvement algorithm with fixed mean and covariance functions

This paper deals with the convergence of the expected improvement algorithm, a popular global optimization algorithm based on a Gaussian process model of the function to be optimized. The first result is that under some mild hypotheses on the covariance function k of the Gaussian process, the expected improvement algorithm produces a dense sequence of evaluation points in the search domain, when the function to be optimized is in the reproducing kernel Hilbert space generated by k  . The second result states that the density property also holds for P-almost$\mathsf{P}\text{-almost}$ all continuous functions, where P is the (prior) probability distribution induced by the Gaussian process.     

Frantz Fanon,poet: pleasure of the text,power of the text

ABSTRACT

Frantz Fanon’s writing represents a productive embrace of the political and the poetic. His ideas have had such a long afterlife, they live on in us, I submit, precisely because the language of their articulation, image-filled and rhythmic, is compelling. This article examines three elements of Fanonian poetics in Black Skin, White Masks: the use of metaphor and, in “By Way of Conclusion,” an ambiguous/multiple “I” as persona, and, finally, what Brent Edwards has called “anaphoric poetics,” the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive phrases.     

An ecological systems approach to understanding social support in foster family resilience

Families who care for children in the foster care system often experience challenges related to the system, accessing services and supports, and managing relationships. Despite these challenges, many families thrive because of unique attributes and strengths that contribute to experiences of resilience. Using an ecological framework, this study examined social support among resilient foster families to better understand how foster caregivers experienced positive reciprocal transactions across systems. As part of a larger study, in‐depth narrative interviews were conducted to examine the process of resilience for families who foster. Findings revealed that families accessed and benefited from social support on micro‐level, meso‐level and macro‐level. Understanding how families cultivated social support across multiple levels offers implications for practice and policy when considering how best to retain and support families who care for vulnerable children.     

Can urban consolidation limit local biodiversity erosion? Responses from carabid beetle and spider assemblages in Western France

During the last decades, urban consolidation has been developed to minimize spatial expansion of cities, yet very few studies investigated whether it would actually reduce some negative effects of urbanization on biodiversity. In this study, we compared the invertebrate assemblages associated with two distinct urban forms (compact vs. conventional), focusing on two arthropod taxa often used as bioindicators, and dominant in urban habitats: spiders and carabid beetles. The following parameters were estimated: assemblage composition, species richness, activity-density total, per species (excluding seldom-recorded species) and per size class. The field collection was performed in 2009 using pitfall traps randomly set in hedgerows within 6 sites (representing 251 traps). A total of 4,413 spiders belonging to 117 species and 2,077 adult carabid beetles belonging to 39 species were collected. We found few significant differences in carabid beetle and spider assemblages between the two urban forms. The species richness of both groups was independent from the neighborhood design. Only four species of carabid beetles and ten of spiders significantly reacted to the neighborhood design, and no difference was found among the two designs for all other species. Large carabid beetles were more abundant and small spiders less abundant in the new neighborhood design compared to the conventional one. For both carabid beetles and spiders, no difference in assemblage composition was found between neighborhood designs. We therefore conclude that urban consolidation, by permitting a higher human density with similar arthropod assemblages, could contribute to reduce biodiversity loss in cities.     

Interplay of gender subtext and local culture in the organizational logic: the case of a textile factory in Turkey

This paper examines gender as a constitutive element of inequality regimes in the workplace. The organizational logic of workplace is reproduced through accepted but unequal policies and principles. The organizational dynamics of the gendered workplace are embedded in the articulation of global and local markets. The article elaborates on the nature of the organizational logic by focusing on the local dynamics of a Central Anatolian city, Çorum, based on a case study conducted in Turkey. We observe how capitalist organizational logic and gender subtext operate in and through the conservative culture specific to this locality. Through the interactions between employers and employees, the engagement between the capitalist organization and gender subtext constructs the realities of workplace. Workers’ responses to the structural, cultural, interactional and identity dynamics of the organization are to be understood within the triangle of skill, care and honour in capitalist organizational logic. Embedded in all these responses is a specific emphasis on virtuous female worker. Such an ideal worker fits both the capitalist organizational logic and patriarchal system.     

Entre « passion » et incertitude : la socialisation au métier de footballeur professionnel

On the basis of a socioethnographic survey conducted in a professional soccer training center in France, the means of occupational socialization are analyzed in this demanding, captivating institution. Light is shed on how trainees appropriate this professional world and its requirements. As they enter this social universe, they encounter a key tension. On the one hand, training calls for a heavy investment that trainers and trainees experience as a “passion” and understand as being separate from the world of “ordinary” work. On the other hand, it is also a major source of uncertainty as to trainees’ prospects, given its intense selectivity and the few outlets in the labor market. It requires of trainees a strong commitment in time, body and spirit with prospects so uncertain that the course of training is seldom free from periods of soul-searching.     

Black Interactionist Thought and the Lived-Experience Approach to Symbolic Interactionism

Du Bois is often regarded as an important scholar for his contributions to the development of sociology. However, less is known about his work in developing interactionist thought. This essay is an introduction to this special issue, and a small attempt to acknowledge the work of scholars of color within the interactionist tradition. The Du Bosian approach to sociology has for too long been dismissed out of hand. Scholars pursuing new areas of inquiry, topics outside the bounds of “mainstream sociology,” are often met with fierce resistance—even today. Instead of building these scholars up, through mentorship and aid, so-called “accomplished” scholars see fit to tear down the work of those not like them. The Du Bosian perspective celebrates the plurality of voices, advocates for mentorship, and sees sociological inquiry as rooted in the real needs and concerns of those so marginalized. As this collection of articles illustrates, even when conforming to scientific standards work in this tradition has a political dimension as it lays bare the inequities in society—even, at times, drawing government interference with their work. This issue also calls upon professional sociologists to reflect on the ways they reproduce these patterns within the discipline and higher education.