School Readiness of Children of Immigrants: Does Parental Involvement Play a Role?*

Objectives. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey—Kindergarten Cohort, this article analyzes the link between parental involvement and the school readiness of children of immigrants. Methods. Multivariate regression models estimate the association between parental involvement and the school readiness in English proficiency and math scores of children of immigrants. They also estimate the impact of this association on the gap in math scores between children of immigrants and children of natives. Results. Results demonstrate that parental involvement is associated with an increase in the level of English proficiency for children of immigrants. Parental involvement also is associated with a decrease in the gap in math scores between immigrant children from English‐ and non‐English‐speaking backgrounds. Parental involvement decreases the gap in math scores between children of immigrants and children of the native born by a third of a standard deviation. Conclusion. Given that parental involvement appears to benefit children of immigrants and given that they have lower academic achievement than children of the native born, these findings suggest that parental involvement policies and practices targeting children of immigrants could help decrease the academic achievement gap between children of immigrants and children of the native born.     

Die Einführung von Mitarbeiter/innengesprächen an österreichischen Universitäten

The introduction of staff appraisal interviews in Austrian Universities This paper addresses the issue of the obligatory introduction of staff appraisal interviews in the Austrian higher education system after the implementation the law ?UG 2002“ (University Law 2002). It focuses on the cultural change process from the old university management system to a nowadays prevalent ?management by objectives“. After the introduction of the ?UG 2002“ Austrian Universities are forced to be more competitive with one another, hence an academic market is opened. Ultimately this leads to a cultural break. This is the reason why we discuss the possibilities and limitations of the implementation of appraisal interviews and target agreements from different angles. The diverse perspectives will be a theory of communication, a theory of organizations and a psychodynamic standpoint.     

Comparing three alternative types of employment with permanent full-time work: How do employment contract and perceived job conditions relate to health complaints?

Previous research has found that alternative employment arrangements are associated with both impaired and improved well-being. Since such inconsistencies are likely to derive from the type of employment contract as well as the characteristics of the job, this paper compares permanent full-time work with forms of alternative employment (permanent part-time, fixed-term and on-call work) in order to investigate how different employment contracts and perceptions of job conditions relate to individual well-being. This study contributes to the literature by addressing several questions. Different forms of alternative employment are distinguished and individual background characteristics that might be intertwined with the employment contract are controlled for. Moreover, the scope of this study extends to the effects of perceived job conditions, and possible interactive effects with type of employment are tested. Analyses of questionnaire data from 954 Swedish healthcare workers show that perceptions of the job (job insecurity, job control and demands), but not the type of employment contract, predicted health complaints. However, type of employment interacted with perceptions of job insecurity, in that insecurity was associated with impaired well-being among permanent full-time workers, while no relationship was found for on-call or core part-time employees. Despite the absence of interactions between employment contract and job demands or job control, it can be concluded that knowledge about the relationship between alternative employment arrangements and the well-being of workers can be enhanced when the combined effects of employment contract and job conditions are studied.     

Risk‐Taking and the Media

In recent years, media formats with risk‐glorifying content, such as video games that simulate illegal street racing (“bang and crash” games), films about extreme sports, and risky stunts have emerged as top sellers of the media industry. A variety of recent studies conducted by several researchers revealed that exposure to risk‐glorifying media content (e.g., video games that simulate reckless driving, smoking and drinking in movies, or depictions that glorify extreme sports) increases the likelihood that recipients will show increased levels of risk‐taking inclinations and behaviors. The present article (1) reviews the latest research on the detrimental impact of risk‐glorifying media on risk‐taking inclinations (cognitions, emotions, behaviors), (2) puts these findings in the theoretical context of recent sociocognitive models on media effects, and (3) makes suggestions to science and policymakers on how to deal with these effects in the future.     

Eco-efficient supply chain networks: development of a design framework and application to a real case study

This paper presents a supply chain network design framework that is based on multi-objective mathematical programming and that can identify ‘eco-efficient’ configuration alternatives that are both efficient and ecologically sound. This work is original in that it encompasses the environmental impact of both transportation and warehousing activities. We apply the proposed framework to a real-life case study (i.e. Lindt & Sprüngli) for the distribution of chocolate products. The results show that cost-driven network optimisation may lead to beneficial effects for the environment and that a minor increase in distribution costs can be offset by a major improvement in environmental performance. This paper contributes to the body of knowledge on eco-efficient supply chain design and closes the missing link between model-based methods and empirical applied research. It also generates insights into the growing debate on the trade-off between the economic and environmental performance of supply chains, supporting organisations in the eco-efficient configuration of their supply chains.     

Model determination for categorical data with factor level merging

Summary.  We deal with contingency table data that are used to examine the relationships between a set of categorical variables or factors. We assume that such relationships can be adequately described by the cond`itional independence structure that is imposed by an undirected graphical model. If the contingency table is large, a desirable simplified interpretation can be achieved by combining some categories, or levels, of the factors. We introduce conditions under which such an operation does not alter the Markov properties of the graph. Implementation of these conditions leads to Bayesian model uncertainty procedures based on reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. The methodology is illustrated on a 2×3×4 and up to a 4×5×5×2×2 contingency table.     

Taking the Lab to the Field: Monitoring Reproductive Hormones in Population Research

The incorporation of biological measures in social science research allows for the development of robust models, with greater explanatory power. By analyzing the underlying proximate causes of fertility and mortality, biodemographers have been able to model demographic patterns more accurately. Recent technological advances are making possible the analysis of biological samples collected using minimally invasive methods. Methods and techniques are discussed that can be used for estimating hormonal, particularly reproductive hormone, levels in large‐scale population studies in which thousands of samples could be collected. Sample collection methods and techniques reviewed include blood spots, urine samples, and saliva samples. The collection of biological samples is associated with serious ethical concerns. The article discusses the issue of asymmetries in technology between developing and developed countries, emphasizing the need for capacity building and information transfer. Illustrative contributions of biological data are presented.     

A Multifactorial Risk Prioritization Framework for Foodborne Pathogens

We develop a prioritization framework for foodborne risks that considers public health impact as well as three other factors (market impact, consumer risk acceptance and perception, and social sensitivity). Canadian case studies are presented for six pathogen‐food combinations: Campylobacter spp. in chicken; Salmonella spp. in chicken and spinach; Escherichia coli O157 in spinach and beef; and Listeria monocytogenes in ready‐to‐eat meats. Public health impact is measured by disability‐adjusted life years and the cost of illness. Market impact is quantified by the economic importance of the domestic market. Likert‐type scales are used to capture consumer perception and acceptance of risk and social sensitivity to impacts on vulnerable consumer groups and industries. Risk ranking is facilitated through the development of a knowledge database presented in the format of info cards and the use of multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) to aggregate the four factors. Three scenarios representing different stakeholders illustrate the use of MCDA to arrive at rankings of pathogen‐food combinations that reflect different criteria weights. The framework provides a flexible instrument to support policymakers in complex risk prioritization decision making when different stakeholder groups are involved and when multiple pathogen‐food combinations are compared.     

Where are the children? Exploring the boundaries between text and context in the study of place and space in four different countries

In this article, we demonstrate how the cultural conceptions of a team of five researchers from different cultural and national backgrounds can be used as a source of knowledge during a collective, self‐reflexive analytical process. While collectively analysing texts describing daily life produced by first‐grade children and their parents in China, Norway, South Africa and the United States, the research team engaged in a collectively negotiated analytical process, which we refer to as an ‘analytic negotiating method’. The strength of this process rests on the ability to examine critically the boundaries between the researcher's contextual conceptions and conceptions derived from the texts. Engaging in this kind of negotiated analytical process contributes to scholarship by working towards a level of self‐reflexivity that makes the link between empirical data and researcher interpretation more transparent and produces a sensitivity to context that allows insights into the conceptions of childhood that operate cross‐culturally.     

Scholarly leadership of the study of leadership: A review of The Leadership Quarterly's second decade, 2000–2009

In a reprise of Lowe and Gardner's (2000) review of The Leadership Quarterly's (LQ) first decade as a premier outlet for scholarly leadership research, we review 353 articles published in LQ during its second decade. Multiple methods were employed to prepare this review, including: interviews with the journal's current Senior Editor and Associate Editors; an assessment of LQ's impact, reputation, and most cited articles through citation analyses; a content analysis of article type (theory, empirical, and methods), contributors (e.g., discipline, nationality, and institutional affiliation), theoretical foundations, research strategies, sample location/type, data collection methods, and analytical procedures; survey and follow-up focus groups conducted with LQ Editorial Review Board members; and qualitative analyses to assess the prevalent themes, contributions, and trends reflected in LQ during its second decade. Drawing from these sources, we describe anticipated directions for future research.