Robust estimation for linear regression with asymmetric errors

The authors propose a new class of robust estimators for the parameters of a regression model in which the distribution of the error terms belongs to a class of exponential families including the log‐gamma distribution. These estimates, which are a natural extension of the MM‐estimates for ordinary regression, may combine simultaneously high asymptotic efficiency and a high breakdown point. The authors prove the consistency and derive the asymptotic normal distribution of these estimates. A Monte Carlo study allows them to assess the efficiency and robustness of these estimates for finite samples.     

Self‐presentation in sociolinguistic interviews: Identities and language variation in Panambi, Brazil

This paper contributes to recent work examining the role of identity, and in particular the uses of language for self‐presentation and the expression of individual identity, through the analysis of two sociolinguistic interviews from a community of German origin in southern Brazil. Drawing from a quantitative study of variation in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, we conducted a detailed analysis of the interviews of two women of different ages and social backgrounds. We first describe the social, cultural and historical context of the interviews, and then discuss how our two speakers use their linguistic resources to express varied, and at times conflicting, aspects of their identities. More specifically, we show how our participants seem to maintain certain in‐group, German‐linked features, yet also use out‐group or Brazilian features in order to index both the (local) German and (regional) Brazilian aspects of their identities. Our data and analysis highlight how participants' identity and language use patterns can be better understood through close analysis of the content of their discourse.     

Urban gradients alter the diversity,specific composition and guild distribution in tropical butterfly communities

The increasing expansion of the urban environment has been considered one of the causes of biodiversity loss. Due to the decrease of the quantity and quality of habitats, this process causes the restriction of organisms to sometimes-specific microhabitats. The patterns of variation of the biodiversity along the environmental gradients, however, are still poorly understood. This study evaluated how urban gradients affect the diversity, specific composition and frequency of guild of the community of butterflies. Butterflies were collected in three transects continuously traversing the urban, rural and preserved habitats using baited traps and by active sampling. We found that the urban gradient acts as an environmental filter in the butterfly communities, reducing the richness and frequency of guilds of frugivorous butterflies, structuring the community through turnover, but without effects in the abundance. This study shows the importance of the urban gradients approach in the butterfly community and its applicability in the management of urban areas in order to include native vegetation along the gradients, aiming at increasing environmental heterogeneity, to preserve butterflies and maintain the ecosystem services and network interactions in altered landscapes.

     

Bodies of work: skilling at the bottom of the global nursing care chain

ABSTRACT

In the midst of a growing global market for migrant care work, there is a need to investigate not only how such labour is consumed but how ‘ideal’ care workers are also produced. This paper investigates how schools within migrant-sending countries produce nurse labour through body work or the testing and honing of hospital procedures on patients’ bodies. Focusing on the case of the Philippines, this paper shows how the education of nurses for export creates a paradoxical impact on care work within local healthcare institutions. Aspiring nurse migrants provide much-needed manpower to understaffed public hospitals yet, treat poor patients as docile bodies to enhance their skills for future foreign employers. This practice creates an inherent inequality in the actual skilling of aspiring nurse migrants, where the poorest bodies allow nurse migrants to provide better care to more privileged bodies in wealthier nations.     

The use of diaries for understanding the experience of health and illness

While diaries as a method have a long tradition in sociological research, few studies to date have demonstrated its value for studying health and illness. This article intends to illustrate the importance of this method for health research. The implications of the use of solicited diaries to conduct research within the field of health and illness are discussed. The contributions that the method can make to sociological research on health and illness are explored, namely the potential to capture the everyday of ill people and their family members. Indeed, this method offers an opportunity to access the experience of illness in a multidimensional approach which is not easy for researchers to catch using other methods. The article aims to present an overview of the significance of the use of diaries in health research and will make a novel contribution to the sociology of health and illness.     

Macroergonomic aspects in the design of development programs in IDCs

This paper revisits three reports on ergonomic aspects of development initiatives taking place in Industrially Developing Countries (IDCs). These include a macro-ergonomics intervention in a habitation community in Cape Verde (aimed at designing solutions contributing to sustainable development), the evolution of poultry growers' control strategies as an integrative broiler operation is introduced in Mozambique, and a set of macro-ergonomic considerations related to the Agro Forestry Village Project in Mozambique. The paper seeks to set the reviewed development endeavors against the backdrop of the goals of ergonomics interventions. This reflection may inform development agents in future processes of design and implementation of integrated community and work systems transformation.     

Cluster‐Specific Variable Selection for Product Partition Models

We propose a random partition model that implements prediction with many candidate covariates and interactions. The model is based on a modified product partition model that includes a regression on covariates by favouring homogeneous clusters in terms of these covariates. Additionally, the model allows for a cluster‐specific choice of the covariates that are included in this evaluation of homogeneity. The variable selection is implemented by introducing a set of cluster‐specific latent indicators that include or exclude covariates. The proposed model is motivated by an application to predicting mortality in an intensive care unit in Lisboa, Portugal.     

Inequality in the “Cradle of Liberty”: Race/Ethnicity and Wealth in Greater Boston

New data collected for the Boston Metropolitan Statistical Area provide detailed information on financial assets that allow analysis to extend beyond the traditional black–white divide. Targeting US-born blacks, Caribbean blacks, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and other Hispanics, findings from the National Asset Scorecard for Communities of Color survey underscore the large racial and ethnic disparities in financial wealth, even after controlling for demographic and socioeconomic status. Further, some notable differences between Boston’s communities of color highlight the importance of detailed analyses for research on the racial wealth gap. In particular, among non-white communities Dominicans report comparatively low asset and high debt amounts, while Caribbean blacks report relatively higher levels of wealth. Altogether, these findings point to the need for wealth building opportunities in communities of color and further investigation of the causes and consequences of financial disparities between groups of color disaggregated by specific ancestral origin.     

SOVA: Design of a Stakeholder Informed Social Media Website for Depressed Adolescents and Their Parents

Two moderated social media websites were designed for increasing likelihood for mental health treatment engagement for depressed adolescents (sova.pitt.edu) and for parents (wisesova.pitt.edu). This article describes iterative stakeholder interviews conducted with adolescents, young adults, parents, advocates, and clinicians and use of human computer interaction techniques to inform major design changes which: (a) underscored the role of online interaction to provide emotional support and information, (b) importance of anonymity, (c) desire to share positive media, and (d) need for frequent moderation. Future studies will examine acceptability and effectiveness of revised websites in helping depressed adolescents and their parents engage with treatment.     

The Role of Supervision in Professional Development of Social Work Specialists

The professionals use social services supervision as an educational and administrative process, meant to support. Supervision is a relatively new field introduced in the Romanian social welfare institutions. The article approaches the role of supervision in the process of professional development of social workers, following a research based on Grounded theory. We conducted this research into an elite NGO, in the North-Eastern Romania, in the domain of child protection. Supervision is a social practice based on the relationship between a person with extensive professional experience and a professional effectively involved in case management. Supervision is seen as a prerequisite to quality social services organization. Effectiveness of the supervision process may be an indicator of the quality of social work practice in an organization. The data were collected through interviews of participants in the research. The interviewed subjects operate with a definition of the supervision as being a practice based on individual or group interview, formal or informal, consisting in a series of specific phases (initial, development, end). Supervision involves the establishment of professional relationships between the participants and the quality of services and training received. This definition is partially different from those in the literature.