Simultaneous inference for functional data in sports biomechanics

AStA Advances in Statistical Analysis - The recent sports science literature conveys a growing interest in robust statistical methods to analyze smooth, regularly-sampled functional data. This...     

Kosten und Kostentreiber von unerwünschten Werbemails (Spam) — Eine empirische Analyse auf Provider- und Anwenderseite

Zusammenfassung  In der Literatur wird diskutiert, dass unerwünschte Werbemails (Spam) sowohl auf individueller als auch auf volkswirtschaftlicher Ebene erhebliche Kosten verursachen, deren H?he jedoch unbestimmt ist. Diese Fragestellung wird mit zwei empirischen Untersuchungen adressiert, in denen die Mitarbeiter einer Universit?t zu ihren Spam-Kosten befragt wurden. Die Daten werden mit Hilfe von Finite Mixture Regressions analysiert. In der Betrachtung der Kosten ergibt sich der Befund, dass die auf individueller Ebene entstehenden Kosten die zentralen Kosten auf IT-Ebene deutlich übersteigen. Es zeigt sich, dass die Spam-Belastung bei den Mitarbeitern heterogen verteilt ist und dass ein Spamfilter vor allem bei stark belasteten Nutzern zu einer Kostenersparnis führt. Um die Heterogenit?t in der Spam-Wahrnehmung und die Angst vor Fehlklassifikationen zu berücksichtigen, sollten die Nutzer die M?glichkeit haben, auf einfache Art auf den Filterprozess einzuwirken.

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Costs and cost drivers of unsolicited bulk email (spam) — an empirical analysis

Summary  This paper empirically addresses the often claimed assumption that unsolicited bulk e-mail (spam) causes significant costs — on the individual level as well as for the entire society. To shed light on this problem, employees of a large university were interviewed twice in order to determine the individual costs caused by spam and to identify the relevant cost drivers using finite mixture regressions. The results indicate a heterogeneous distribution of spam load and the resulting costs. The panel approach yields the conclusion that spam filters lead to a reduction of costs only for users severely troubled by spam. Furthermore, people tend to become active against spam only when a certain threshold of spam burden is reached. The costs caused by spam for the users exceed the central IT-related expenses by far. For the implementation of spam filters the results suggest a two step procedure to be most efficient: central actions should be taken to block e-mails that can be unambiguously identified as spam. Further, users should be given the opportunity to influence the filtering process in order to account for heterogeneity and their fear of false classification.

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Die Autoren bedanken sich sehr herzlich bei den Mitarbeitern des Rechenzentrums der Christian-Albrechts-Universit?t zu Kiel für die intensive Kooperation. Wir danken zudem Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. S?nke Albers, Christian Barrot, Eva Bl?meke und Christina Schmidt-St?lting für die zahlreichen Hinweise zu früheren Fassungen des Aufsatzes. Auch die beiden Gutachter und das Herausgeberteam der ZfB haben zahlreiche Verbesserungsvorschl?ge gemacht, die zu einer substanziellen Verbesserung des Manuskripts geführt haben.     

重塑社会学的想象力——语言/视觉二元论以及文化社会学的符像转向

以意义为中心的文化社会学遭遇的关键挑战之一就是不得不面对当代人类学、考古学、艺术史和物质文化研究等领域的发现。其越来越紧迫的任务就是认识并修正曾经由这些学科所确立的语言学/文本框架之解释的局限性。传统结构主义者集中关注各种话语符码,而且,在理解复杂的表象经济的权力,特别是在履行解释其变异性方面,文化符号之任意性的假设显得捉襟见肘。语言和以沟通为中心的框架通常忽视的事实是,被相信具有因果性社会力量的绝大多数能指无可避免地嵌入在开放的但并非无限制的感情与物质性结构之中。因此,行动中需要整合能力更强且维度更多的文化模式。本文主要讨论符像性对发展一个与此相关的整合性视角的重要性,同时并不抛弃语言学转向的一些构成性洞见。我以亚历山大等当代学者的转型性工作和我自己的研究来证实,被如此构想的文化的复合体才是具因果律的社会力。我的目的在于详尽阐述物质性文化研究中的一个关键原则,即不同的符号秩序对于决定性和/或自主性逻辑而言是不同的主题,并且由此对“社会建构”和历史转型的不同模式做出回应。我们需要继续关注奥斯汀关于如何以言行事的问题,但是不能重复他的局限,即似乎社会之事发生之际同时并不伴随图像、对象、场所、身体和所有它们的特征以及使用暗含。对社会学想象力的这一扩展予以充实,可以帮助我们激活理解和解释文化这一概念所拥有的充分潜力,并由此坚定地转向文化。     

Three dimensions of the public sphere on Facebook

The article provides an empirical analysis of the online public sphere in the three dimensions introduced by Dahlgren (2005): structural, representational and interactional. The main subject of analysis is the largest social networking site – Facebook – and Polish users’ activity on the Facebook Pages of political parties and politicians. The researchers analysed data about all users active on those Pages during two 4-month periods in 2013 and 2015. The results of the study show that only a small fraction of Facebook users are active in public political discussions that take place on political Facebook Pages (structural dimension). However, the level of engagement depends on the current political events taking place within the public sphere offline, and users are more active during electoral campaigns. Moreover, Facebook does not provide an alternative public sphere for political actors that are less present in mainstream media. Parties and politicians that are visible in traditional media are also attracting active fans in social media (representational dimension). Nonetheless, non-parliamentary groups have more active fans than would result only from their popularity in mainstream media. Finally, the online public on Facebook is fragmented and clustered into homogenous political groups (interactional dimension), thus supporting the hypothesis on ‘echo chambers’ presented by Sunstein (2001). The divisions are smaller when there are significantly more users involved. However, most of these cross-cutting links are the result of the electoral campaign.     

Efficiency versus fairness: The evaluation of labor market policies by economists and laypeople

The present study examines the criteria used by economic laypeople (N = 380 German citizens) and economists (N = 80 professors or postgraduates in economics) in judging reform measures as illustrated by policies of governmental labor market intervention policies. Results reveal substantial differences between economists and laypeople. Most laypersons favored labor market interventions and regarded them as both, efficient and fair. In contrast, most economists opposed labor market interventions and regarded them as both, inefficient and unfair. Using structural equation modelling we further show that the relative importance of efficiency and fairness differs between both groups. While economists base the acceptance of a certain reform measure mainly on its perceived efficiency, laypersons mainly focus on its perceived fairness. Theoretical and practical implications of our results are discussed.     

(Unintended) Consequences of initiating an alcohol sales policy at college football stadiums: A case study

University officials are increasingly considering selling alcoholic beverages at campus football stadiums. To inform this decision, we report on offenses occurring at a campus football stadium and surrounding community on game day weekends between 2009 and 2013. Campus police log data for 35 home football weekends were examined, accounting for 1,940 distinct incidents. There was a general upward trend in crime incidents. On average, 330 total crime incidents occurred when alcohol was not sold (2009–2011) compared to 475 annually when alcohol was sold (2012–2013). Liquor law violations and alcohol consumption by a minor were the two most frequently cited offenses. Liquor law violations (317) was highest after alcohol sales initiated. Police incidents were markedly higher when playing a traditional football rival at home. College administrators, health officials, athletic departments, and local law enforcement must work together to weigh the potential benefit of enhanced financial profit against the risk of increased alcohol-related crime.     

From Consultancy to Critique: The ‘Success Story’ of Globalized Zakat Management in Malaysia and its Normative Ambiguities

The administration of Islamic alms (zakat) funds in Malaysia underwent spectacular transformations since the 1990s, shaped by the appropriation of marketized forms of management and a skyrocketing growth of collection and distribution rates. Simultaneously, local zakat funds are increasingly used to pursue targets of sustainable poverty reduction, such as the empowerment of micro-entrepreneurship. This globally inspired ‘success story’ is referred to by various international observers, including development organizations, as a ‘role model’ for other countries to learn from. After illustrating what makes the Malaysian case so particularly attractive, this article develops a critique of international perceptions of this ‘success story’ by making explicit some of its underlying ambiguities. Instead of narrowly celebrating instrumental aspects of business-style organizational innovation and calling for their globalization, a deeper understanding of the discursive embeddedness of Malaysian zakat management would reveal significant normative tensions with secular humanitarian ethics and human rights law, with implications beyond the Malaysian case.     

Self-Reported Capabilities Among Young Male Adults in Switzerland: Translation and Psychometric Evaluation of a German, French and Italian Version of a Closed Survey Instrument

There is a shortage of empirical applications of the capability approach that employ closed survey instruments to assess self-reported capabilities. However, for those few instruments that have been designed and administered through surveys until now, no psychometric properties (reliability, validity, and factor structure) were reported. The purpose of this study is the assessment of the psychometric properties of three new language versions (German, French, and Italian) of an established (English) set of eight self-reported capability items. The set of items is taken from a previously published British study by Anand and van Hees (J Soc Econ 35(2):268–284, 2006). Our sample consists of 17,152 young male adults aged 18–25 years from the three major language regions in Switzerland. The results indicate good reliability of the three language versions. The results from the exploratory factor analyses suggest a one-dimensional factor structure for seven domain specific items. Furthermore, the results from multiple regression analyses suggest that a global summary item on overall capabilities represents a measurement alternative to the set of seven domain specific capability items. Finally, the results confirm the applicability of the closed capability instrument in a large scale survey questionnaire and represent the first attempt to measure self-reported capabilities in Switzerland.