Über die asymptotische verteilung des periodogramms stationärer gaussscher zufälliger folgen

For stationary Gaussian random sequences it is estimated the rate of convergence to the asymptotic distribution of the periodogram. An asymptotic expansio for the distribution function of the periodogram is given as well.     

Is an e-mental health programme a viable way to reach affected others of disordered gamblers? A feasibility study focusing on access and retention

Although affected family members (AFMs) of disordered gamblers suffer from highly stressful living conditions and are in need of specialized help, access to and knowledge of professional support is limited. To improve this situation, an e-mental health programme called EfA with one information module and five consecutive training modules was developed. The study investigated (1) promotion of and referral to EfA, (2) duration of visits and conversion rate, and (3) participants’ characteristics and retention in EfA. In 9 months, 6357 visits were counted. Most visitors arrived at the website via direct access. Those using search terms most commonly used phrases that were used in promotional materials. Per month, 16.1 new potential participants registered. The final sample consisted of 126 participants, most of them female, with high daily Internet usage and low use of prior professional support or self-help. More than one-third finished all modules. This is the first time that data on an e-mental health programme for this clientele was collected in Germany. Findings imply the importance of promoting such a programme in order to reach a clientele that has not had prior help and also show that it is a viable way to reach AFMs.     

Leadership and Effectiveness in the Context of Gender: The Role of Leaders' Verbal Behaviour*

This field study focuses on verbal consideration, which is a leadership behaviour that expresses esteem for the follower and her or his work, knowledge and opinion. It was assumed that the relationship between verbal consideration and various outcomes is moderated by the leader's gender. One‐hundred‐and‐forty leaders and 455 of their direct followers were surveyed in a one‐wave questionnaire study in Germany. Male and female leaders showed the same degree of verbal consideration as rated by their followers. Verbal consideration is related to three out of four outcome variables for both sexes. One unexpected moderating effect of leaders' gender was found: followers of male leaders displaying verbal consideration report less ‘irritation’ (a state of exhaustion considered a threat to good task fulfilment). One explanation may be that male leaders get ‘extra credit’ for showing verbal consideration as it may be thought to entail special effort, whereas for female leaders it may be seen as normal and routine. This assumption should be examined in further studies in order to get more information about the different mechanisms by which female and male leaders reach the same quality of outcomes.     

Optimizing the Quantity/Quality Trade-Off in Connectome Inference

We demonstrate a meaningful prospective power analysis for an (admittedly idealized) illustrative connectome inference task. Modeling neurons as vertices and synapses as edges in a simple random graph model, we optimize the trade-off between the number of (putative) edges identified and the accuracy of the edge identification procedure. We conclude that explicit analysis of the quantity/quality trade-off is imperative for optimal neuroscientific experimental design. In particular, identifying edges faster/more cheaply, but with more error, can yield superior inferential performance.     

Vereinsmanagement in Zeiten der Veränderung

Associations and unions are under high optimisation pressure because of fewer public money and general changes in society. Many try to cope with this hard situation by looking for business management instruments. Quick solutions are however not easy to get. These organisations are for their members, to a high degree, social communities as well as political action communities and economic or services communities. These three different forms of communities constitute subsystems in associations with their own very specific organisatinal logic. If one of those subsystems get out of balance it would affect the two others. Modern management instruments are useless in changes projects handling changes, as long as the managing committee doesn’t initiate broad and extensive internal discussions about the future direction of the association. Project handling changes have only a chance to succeed, if they equally take into consideration all three subsystems.     

Women behaving badly: negative posts on Facebook memorial pages

This study explores negative posts in Facebook pages dedicated to dead subjects. As with places for mourning in offline environments, memorial pages in Facebook appear to exude a sacred character as objects to both celebrate the life of the deceased and grieve their departure with others. Through a two-step content analysis of an initial sample of 600 pages containing the ‘R.I.P.’ acronym in their title, we found, however, a number of posts violating conventional expectations of respect for these mourning spaces. Negative posts in memorial pages take the form of flames (i.e., insults directed at the subject of the page, its administrator, or other visitors), venting (e.g., violent language against the victimizers of the subject of a memorial page), or ‘spam’ (i.e., advertisement and content not related to the subject and purpose of the page). Moreover, while results show that most memorial pages in Facebook are created and maintained by women (even thought the subject in the majority of those pages are young males who died an untimely death), they also reveal that women post the majority of negative posts in those pages as well. In other words, whereas women seem to perpetuate traditional offline roles in connection to mourning and grieving rituals, in the online world, they are also the first ones challenging the socially sanctioned sacral attributes of those practices in social networking sites.     

Snack time in kindergarten as a cultural practice—Implications for processes of subjectivation

This article explores subjectivation processes in eating situations in Swiss kindergartens. On the basis of a long-term ethnographic study and against the backdrop of the public discourse on healthy food in schools it investigates how norms and rules are being translated, shaped and performed in daily practices of un/doing difference. This ethnomethodological approach is combined with Judith Butlers deconstructionist perspective of analysing local and institutional norms of recognisability. The findings show that eating situations are highly relevant for processes of subjectivation and also bear a high potential for conflicts regarding differing cultural norms around eating.     

Über asymptotisch optimale versuchsplanung im sinne von sacks-ylvisaker

Zusammenfassunf.Das Versuchplanungsproblem von Sacks-Ylvisaker in der Form von Hajek-Kimeldorf wird unter etwas veränderten voraussetzungen betrachtet.Dieses Resultat wird zur Lösung eines speziellen problems der Versuchsplanung für zufällige Felder verwendet.     

LABOR MARKET PERFORMANCE EFFECTS OF DISCRIMINATION AND LOSS OF SKILL

We examine the impact of discrimination on labor market performance when workers are subject to a risk of losing skills during an unemployment experience. Within a search and matching framework, we show that both natives and immigrants are affected by discrimination. Discrimination in one sector has positive spillovers, inducing employment to increase in the other sector and the effect on labor market performance therefore depends on whether discrimination is present in only one sector or in both. Discrimination may induce workers to train more or less than natives after having lost their skills, dependent upon in which sector there is discrimination. Net output tends to be most negatively affected by discrimination among high‐skilled workers. (JEL J15, J31, J61, J64, J71)