Wavelet-based gradient boosting

A new data science tool named wavelet-based gradient boosting is proposed and tested. The approach is special case of componentwise linear least squares gradient boosting, and involves wavelet functions of the original predictors. Wavelet-based gradient boosting takes advantages of the approximate \(\ell _1\) penalization induced by gradient boosting to give appropriate penalized additive fits. The method is readily implemented in R and produces parsimonious and interpretable regression fits and classifiers.     

Do Disabled Elderly Medicare Beneficiaries with Major Depression Make Less Use of a Consumer-Directed Home Care Voucher Benefit?

Older adults with major depression may underutilize consumer-directed long-term care. Systematic underutilization would create disparities in outcomes, undermining program effectiveness. The Medicare Primary and Consumer-Directed Care Demonstration included a consumer-directed indemnity benefit that paid for goods and services not financed by traditional Medicare. Overall and for most categories of goods and services there was little difference in use and expenditures between those with and without major depression. However, among those using the benefit to hire in-home workers, arguably the most important consumer-directed purchase, average spending for workers was about 30% lower for depressed persons. While our findings are generally reassuring for public policy, future research is needed to verify that major depression is associated with less spending on in-home workers.     

Veiled Threats: Decentering and unification in transnational news coverage of the French veil ban

In October 2010, France approved a law banning the Islamic veil in all public areas, asserting the republican principle of laicité. This cross-cultural analysis applies Muhlmann's theoretical framework to French and US news coverage from March 2004 to October 2010 in order to discern whether coverage featured unifying frames invoking shared values; or decentering frames challenging consensual views and presenting alternative contexts.     

Practice in Formulating Public Opinion

The social studies classroom can and should be a place where students learn critical thinking skills, but too often, especially in the middle grades, students are asked to focus on discrete facts on which they can be tested. The purpose of this article is to suggest that sixth graders can learn the critical thinking skills of “historical thinking” by discussing big ideas and essential questions and to provide a framework for a middle school unit of study on Ancient Egypt.     

Correlates of Voting Participation of People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

ABSTRACT

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) vote less frequently than nondisabled people and people with other disabilities. This study explores what factors facilitate and hinder people with IDD’s voting participation. To do so, 1,341 people with IDD were surveyed using the Personal Outcome Measures®. Binary logistic regressions revealed significant relationships between voting participation, and support needs, residence types, guardianship statuses, and organizational supports. Along with the right supports, attention to barriers that might exist can ensure people with IDD are able to make use of their civil rights and participate in this crucial form of civic engagement.     

Mind the gap: financial London and the regional class pay gap

The hidden barriers, or ‘gender pay gap’, preventing women from earning equivalent incomes to men is well documented. Yet recent research has uncovered that, in Britain, there is also a comparable class‐origin pay gap in higher professional and managerial occupations. So far this analysis has only been conducted at the national level and it is not known whether there are regional differences within the UK. This paper uses pooled data from the 2014 and 2015 Labour Force Survey (N = 7,534) to stage a more spatially sensitive analysis that examines regional variation in the class pay gap. We find that this ‘class ceiling’ is not evenly spatially distributed. Instead it is particularly marked in Central London, where those in high‐status occupations who are from working‐class backgrounds earn, on average, £10,660 less per year than those whose parents were in higher professional and managerial employment. Finally, we inspect the Capital further to reveal that the class pay gap is largest within Central London's banking and finance sector. Challenging policy conceptions of London as the ‘engine room’ of social mobility, these findings suggest that class disadvantage within high‐status occupations is particularly acute in the Capital. The findings also underline the value of investigating regional differences in social mobility, and demonstrate how such analysis can unravel important and previously unrecognized spatial dimensions of class inequality.     

Suicide and suicide risk in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender populations: review and recommendations

Despite strong indications of elevated risk of suicidal behavior in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, limited attention has been given to research, interventions or suicide prevention programs targeting these populations. This article is a culmination of a three-year effort by an expert panel to address the need for better understanding of suicidal behavior and suicide risk in sexual minority populations, and stimulate the development of needed prevention strategies, interventions and policy changes. This article summarizes existing research findings, and makes recommendations for addressing knowledge gaps and applying current knowledge to relevant areas of suicide prevention practice.     

Correction to: Parental Status and Biological Functioning: Findings from the Nashville Stress and Health Study

Population Research and Policy Review - Unfortunately, due to an error upon submission of this article, the article was published with an incomplete author group. Dr. Katherine L. Friedman was not...     

Preface to the Special Issue on Child and Adolescent Attachment

The implications of John Bowlby’s attachment theory resound through the mental health community. While we know now that much of what Bowlby posited was true, we are still discovering the value of such findings for our clinical work with children and adolescents. Our special issue in Clinical Social Work Journal explores how attachment theory is being used in clinical settings throughout the country. It presents articles relevant to work with infants and toddlers, children and adolescents and families. How can we translate what we know about attachment theory and research into practice? Our special issue authors have attempted to answer this question.     

Robotic Pets in Human Lives: Implications for the Human–Animal Bond and for Human Relationships with Personified Technologies

Robotic "pets" are being marketed as social companions and are used in the emerging field of robot-assisted activities, including robot-assisted therapy (RAA). However, the limits to and potential of robotic analogues of living animals as social and therapeutic partners remain unclear. Do children and adults view robotic pets as "animal-like,""machine-like," or some combination of both? How do social behaviors differ toward a robotic versus living dog? To address these issues, we synthesized data from three studies of the robotic dog AIBO: (1) a content analysis of 6,438 Internet postings by 182 adult AIBO owners; (2) observations and interviews with 80 preschoolers during play periods with AIBO and with a stuffed dog; and (3) observations and interviews with 72 children, aged 7–15 years, who played with AIBO and a living dog. Overall, the studies revealed that "hybrid" cognitions and behaviors about AIBO emerged: the robotic dog was treated as a technological artifact that also embodied attributes of living animals, such as having mental states, being a social other, and having moral standing (although this latter finding remained difficult to interpret). Implications for use of robotic pets as companions and in interventions or therapy are explored.