Spiritual needs of mothers with sick new born or premature infants—A cross sectional survey among German mothers

Background

Spirituality is part of the basic needs of all humans, yet often undervalued by health professionals. Less is known about the spiritual needs of mothers of preterm or sick new born children.

Model Selection For A Family Of Discrete Failure Time Distributions

In recent years, a large number of new discrete distributions have appeared in the literature. However, flexible discrete models which, at the same time, allow for easy statistical inference, are still an exception. This paper makes a detailed analysis of a family of discrete failure time distributions which meets both requirements. It examines the maximum likelihood estimation of the unknown parameters and presents a goodness-of-fit test for this model. The test is used for the selection of an appropriate model for datasets of frequencies of the duration of atmospheric circulation patterns.     

Wandlungen des Sterbens im Krankenhaus und die Konflikte zwischen Krankenrolle und Sterberolle

Dying in hospital has long been considered as inevitable but talking about it should be avoided, if possible. For some time now, new ideals of dying demand higher social expectations and requirements for the care of dying people (e.g. psycho-social and spiritual care). This trend can also be found in hospitals. On the basis of a running micro-sociological observational study carried out so far in four hospitals and two hospices the social organisation of dying in the hospital is being investigated and results are presented with an example of a case study. Observed dying trajectories show that the staff refers to two competing metaphors as an interpretative frame for performing its work that we call the ideal of the “short and good” dying and the ideal of the “long and laborious” dying. These idealisation correspond with the practice of “discrete” dying (that have been found in hospitals until the 1970s and that are still dominant in the medical world) and with the practice of “intimating” dying (which are drawn from the demands of the hospice-movement). Within this interpretative frame the staff is able to cope with uncertainties of the dying process. The idealisa-tions help to reformulate cumulative mess trajectories as successful and good work and thus tensions between the sick role and the dying role are minimised.     

Note on a linear model with errors in the variables and with trend

The least squares estimate of the slope parameter of a simple linear model with errors in the variables is typically biased. However the bias vanishes asymptotically for increasing sample size if the regressor variable follows a linear trend. For this case asymptotic expansion formulas for bias and variance of the least squares estimator are derived from exact expressions presented by Richardson and Wu (1970) and certain bounds to these expressions given by Friedmann (1990).     

Realisierungspotenziale kooperativen Lernens mit Hilfe virtueller Kommunikation

Within the widespread paradigm of life-long learning, virtual communication is estimated to play an important role not only for distance education, but also concerning educational face-to-face-teaching and hybrid settings. In this article, an overview of forms and modes of computer-mediated communication (CMC) is given, leading to a discussion of both, didactic criteria and technological equipment, for the promotion of computer-supported cooperative/collaborative learning (CSCL).     

Semiparametric multinomial logit models for analysing consumer choice behaviour

The multinomial logit model (MNL) is one of the most frequently used statistical models in marketing applications. It allows one to relate an unordered categorical response variable, for example representing the choice of a brand, to a vector of covariates such as the price of the brand or variables characterising the consumer. In its classical form, all covariates enter in strictly parametric, linear form into the utility function of the MNL model. In this paper, we introduce semiparametric extensions, where smooth effects of continuous covariates are modelled by penalised splines. A mixed model representation of these penalised splines is employed to obtain estimates of the corresponding smoothing parameters, leading to a fully automated estimation procedure. To validate semiparametric models against parametric models, we utilise different scoring rules as well as predicted market share and compare parametric and semiparametric approaches for a number of brand choice data sets.     

Robust Kalman tracking and smoothing with propagating and non-propagating outliers

A common situation in filtering where classical Kalman filtering does not perform particularly well is tracking in the presence of propagating outliers. This calls for robustness understood in a distributional sense, i.e.; we enlarge the distribution assumptions made in the ideal model by suitable neighborhoods. Based on optimality results for distributional-robust Kalman filtering from Ruckdeschel (Ansätze zur Robustifizierung des Kalman-Filters, vol 64, 2001; Optimally (distributional-)robust Kalman filtering, arXiv: 1004.3393, 2010a), we propose new robust recursive filters and smoothers designed for this purpose as well as specialized versions for non-propagating outliers. We apply these procedures in the context of a GPS problem arising in the car industry. To better understand these filters, we study their behavior at stylized outlier patterns (for which they are not designed) and compare them to other approaches for the tracking problem. Finally, in a simulation study we discuss efficiency of our procedures in comparison to competitors.