Employment commitment among the long-term unemployed in norway: Is a culture of dependency about to develop?

This paper explores the association between employment commitment and employment status, with a focus on the long-term unemployed. It has been claimed in some quarters that there has been a decline in the work ethic and a parallel development of a culture of dependency. Our data indicate that employment commitment seems to be influenced by previous and present work experiences, but factors such as sex and household circumstances are also of importance. There appears to be no association between unemployment duration or receipt of unemployment benefits and employment commitment. Even persons with a marginal attachment to the labour market are highly committed to employment. There is little evidence indicating that a decline in employment commitment is likely to take place. Overall, unemployment commitment among young people was as high as that found among older age groups. There are no signs of the development of a culture of dependency and a reduced work ethic. Our data further suggest that it may be possible to reverse low employment commitment among marginal categories by offering them meaningful paid work.     

The relationships between work characteristics and mental health: examining normal, reversed and reciprocal relationships in a 4-wave study

This longitudinal study examined the causal relationships between job demands, job control and supervisor support on the one hand and mental health on the other. Whereas we assumed that work characteristics affect mental health, we also examined reversed causal relationships (mental health influences work characteristics). Further, the topic of the appropriate time lag for testing causal relationships was addressed. Our hypotheses were tested in a 4-wave study among a heterogeneous sample of 668 Dutch employees using structural equation modelling. The results provide evidence for reciprocal causal relationships between the work characteristics and mental health, although the effects of work characteristics on well-being were causally predominant. The best model fit was found for a 1-year time lag. Compared to earlier—predominantly cross-sectional—results, the present study presents a stronger case for the effects of work characteristics on the development of strain. The results also emphasize the need for a dynamic view of the relationship between work and health; the one-directional viewpoint in many work stress models does not seem to fully capture the relations between work characteristics and well-being.     

Documenting community-level outcomes. Lessons from drinking and driving

Alcohol-related crashes cluster on Friday and Saturday evenings. One objective of this study was to contrast the demographic characteristics of operators who drive at these times with those who do not, through the comparison of data from two of the most widely used methods for gathering information on drinking and driving: Random Digit Dialing Telephone Surveys and Roadside Voluntary Breath Test Surveys. Roadside surveys set up at locations where alcohol-related crashes occur provide a better sample of those drivers most at risk of crash involvement. Telephone surveys, because they do not generally measure the exposure of drivers both in the location of driving and the number of miles driven, are less suited to identifying the drivers at risk. However, they highlight the large number of individuals who drive during high-risk times but avoid high-risk locations.     

Transportnetzgestaltung für Paketdienstleister

Zusammenfassung  In diesem Beitrag entwickeln wir ein Hub-Location-Modell zur Bestimmung der Standorte von Hubs aus einer gegebenen Menge von Depots. Mit einer stufenf?rmigen Transportkostenfunktion erhalten wir die effiziente Kombination von Fahrzeugen bestimmter Typen von einem oder mehreren Verkehrstr?gern. Ferner berücksichtigen wir direkte Transporte und die Regellaufzeit der einzelnen Transporte. In Anlehnung an ein vorhandenes Transportnetz eines Paketdienstleisters demonstrieren wir die Anwendbarkeit des Ansatzes.

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Transportation network design for parcel service provider

Summary  In this paper we develop a hub location model to determine the locations of hubs from a given set of depots. Applying a stepwise transport cost function, we get the efficient combination of certain types of vehicles by one or more modes of transport. Furthermore, we consider direct transports and a maximum transit time. Based on an existing transportation network of a parcel service provider, the applicability of the model is shown.

     

Combined Density Nowcasting in an Uncertain Economic Environment

We introduce a combined density nowcasting (CDN) approach to dynamic factor models (DFM) that in a coherent way accounts for time-varying uncertainty of several model and data features to provide more accurate and complete density nowcasts. The combination weights are latent random variables that depend on past nowcasting performance and other learning mechanisms. The combined density scheme is incorporated in a Bayesian sequential Monte Carlo method which rebalances the set of nowcasted densities in each period using updated information on the time-varying weights. Experiments with simulated data show that CDN works particularly well in a situation of early data releases with relatively large data uncertainty and model incompleteness. Empirical results, based on U.S. real-time data of 120 monthly variables, indicate that CDN gives more accurate density nowcasts of U.S. GDP growth than a model selection strategy and other combination strategies throughout the quarter with relatively large gains for the two first months of the quarter. CDN also provides informative signals on model incompleteness during recent recessions. Focusing on the tails, CDN delivers probabilities of negative growth, that provide good signals for calling recessions and ending economic slumps in real time.     

RECONSTRUCTING DNA COPY NUMBER BY PENALIZED ESTIMATION AND IMPUTATION

Recent advances in genomics have underscored the surprising ubiquity of DNA copy number variation (CNV). Fortunately, modern genotyping platforms also detect CNVs with fairly high reliability. Hidden Markov models and algorithms have played a dominant role in the interpretation of CNV data. Here we explore CNV reconstruction via estimation with a fused-lasso penalty as suggested by Tibshirani and Wang [Biostatistics 9 (2008) 18-29]. We mount a fresh attack on this difficult optimization problem by the following: (a) changing the penalty terms slightly by substituting a smooth approximation to the absolute value function, (b) designing and implementing a new MM (majorization-minimization) algorithm, and (c) applying a fast version of Newton's method to jointly update all model parameters. Together these changes enable us to minimize the fused-lasso criterion in a highly effective way.We also reframe the reconstruction problem in terms of imputation via discrete optimization. This approach is easier and more accurate than parameter estimation because it relies on the fact that only a handful of possible copy number states exist at each SNP. The dynamic programming framework has the added bonus of exploiting information that the current fused-lasso approach ignores. The accuracy of our imputations is comparable to that of hidden Markov models at a substantially lower computational cost.     

Creating shared spaces: developing teaching through peer supervision groups

Abstract

This article examines how university teachers from different disciplines and faculties collaborate by giving feedback on each other’s teaching. This collaborative activity, termed Peer Supervision Groups (PSG), is part of a faculty development course at a Norwegian university. Conceptually the study draws on activity theoretical notions of boundary crossing and boundary objects and is empirically based on observations of a PSG over a period of six months. The article examines how collaborative interactions about teaching across communities emerge in the PSG setting and how this arrangement can be improved for the benefit of developing teaching practices in higher education.     

One size does not fit all: Entrepreneurial families’ reliance on family offices

Family offices are organisations dedicated to the management of entrepreneurial families’ private wealth. Based on agency theory, we analyse types of family offices with regard to the families’ goals and the control mechanisms used to ensure goal achievement. Family-dominant management and private client structures involve stronger emphasis on non-financial goals in single and multi-family offices than in non-family-dominant management and open client structures. Variations in family involvement, ranging from family dominance to the complete absence of family ownership and/or management, and diverse client structures justify the differential reliance on formal and informal control mechanisms.     

Coal demand,market forces,and U.S. coal mine closures

Economic transitions have the potential to displace workers and cause social unrest. Coal mine closures and the resulting employment losses in rural areas have become salient issues. Using data on coal mine and power plant operation, we model closure as a function of expected profits, which allows us to compare the effects on mine closure of specific demand and supply shocks to expected mine profits. Increasing costs of production have had a large impact on closures, but lower natural gas prices and lower electricity demand have played more recently important roles.