The development of analysis of variance for circular data

The new approach to the analysis of variance type technique for the angular data suggested by Harrison, Kanji & Gadsden (1986) has been extended for the analysis of larger designs. Examples are given to indicate the validity of the new approach.     

Lapsele Oma Kodu (bringing abandoned children home): a project from Tallinn, Estonia to reunite institutionalized children with families

In 1993 it was estimated that there were approximately 2000 children in 64 institutions in Estonia. Children in Estonia and in other central and eastern European countries are often removed from their homes and placed in institutions in order to ensure that their basic physical needs will be met. Lapsele Oma Kodu is a project that was initiated in Estonia in 1993 to (a) train social workers and homemakers to provide family services to reunite institutionalized children with families; (b) return home a minimum of 50 institutionalized children; (c) demonstrate a model family support program; and (d) influence public opinion and child welfare policy in Estonia. Between April 1993 and June 1994, services were provided to 150 families (including 187 children). A total of 101 children have been removed from institutions and placed with biological, foster or adoptive families. An additional 19 children have been able to remain with their families through preventive services. This article presents data from the first 15 months of project activities that can be useful to other countries in central and eastern Europe initiating similar family service programs in the post-Soviet era.     

Child Welfare Policy in the United States

Recent developments in child welfare in the United States can be seen as enactments of state paternalism toward families. New programs and procedures in the areas of foster care and “in-home” family services aim to reinforce parents' and childrens' rights, but these rights are typically framed as protections against bureaucratic abuse rather than as rights to basic material resources. The prevailing cultural assumption toward child welfare in the United States is that the government should not intervene in family life unless there is legal evidence of functional failure. Families are still seen as autonomous units that essentially determine their own fates. This ideology serves to limit the public and political perception of more preventive and developmental options.     

Statistical process control and model monitoring

This paper is concerned with model monitoring and quality control schemes, which are founded on a decision theoretic formulation. After identifying unacceptable weaknesses associated with Wald, sequential probability ratio test (SPRT) and Cuscore monitors, the Bayes decision monitor is developed. In particular, the paper focuses on what is termed a 'popular decision scheme' (PDS) for which the monitoring run loss functions are specified simply in terms of two indiff erence qualities. For most applications, the PDS results in forward cumulative sum tests of functions of the observations. For many exponential family applications, the PDS is equivalent to well-used SPRTs and Cusums. In particular, a neat interpretation of V-mask cusum chart settings is derived when simultaneously running two symmetric PDSs. However, apart from providing a decision theoretic basis for monitoring, sensible procedures occur in applications for which SPRTs and Cuscores are particularly unsatisfactory. Average run lengths (ARLs) are given for two special cases, and the inadequacy of the Wald and similar ARL approximations is revealed. Generalizations and applications to normal and dynamic linear models are discussed. The paper concludes by deriving conditions under which sequences of forward and backward sequential or Cusum chart tests are equivalent.     

“Oh,you've got such a strong accent”: Language Identity Intersecting with Professional Identity in the Human Services in Australia

Language operates as a form of differentially valued cultural capital that is an influential factor in educational and employment outcomes. English in particular represents a valuable form of linguistic capital in both the broader world market and many regional and local contexts. This article, focusing on one group of professionals, draws on an exploratory study carried out with overseas‐born bilingual social workers residing in Australia, who reflect on how their language identities intersect with their professional identities in the human services workplace. Although most informants identified tangible benefits associated with being bilingual, especially in terms of working with a diverse clientele, they were equally aware of how being categorized as a ‘non‐native’ speaker of English could diminish their professional credibility and thwart their chances of upward mobility in the workplace. In this regard, this article highlights inconsistencies in how difference is valued in the human services workplace, implicating a more covert process of linguistic othering.     

Dimensions of Involvement in Social Movements

Abstract

Commitment to social movements is sometimes treated as a homogeneous, uni-dimensional phenomenon. Yet there are good theoretical reasons to expect that there are alternative, empirically distinct behavioral sources of commitment. Smallest Space Analysis (SSA) of questionnaire data on participation in Catholic Pentecostalism confirms the empirical distinctness of several modes of behavioral involvement in this contemporary movement. The SSA solution ordered the indicators of involvement along three dimensions. An interpretation of these dimensions is suggested, which appears to have applicability to a wide variety of social movements. Each dimension seems to reflect a dimension of variation in the behavioral sources of commitment to social movements. Should these dimensions indeed prove to be applicable to other movements, they would be useful for comparative analyses of social movement inuolvement.     

Students-as-insurers: rethinking ‘risk’ for disadvantaged young people considering higher education in England

The conventional view since the early 2000s has been that participation in higher education (HE) is a risky pathway for disadvantaged young people in England; the social risk of entering an alien environment combines with the financial risk of rising costs and questionable long-term returns. This riskiness has been constructed as a major barrier to participation. However, national administrative data cast doubt on whether this analysis still holds true. Despite significant rises in tuition fees, the proportion of disadvantaged young people entering HE has continued to rise, with advantaged groups seemingly being more price-sensitive. Data from recent qualitative studies has also suggested that young people are now less attuned to risks. This paper considers whether circumstances in wider society have shifted perceptions of risk. The volatility resulting from the global financial crisis appears to have repositioned HE as a less risky option than early entry to the labour market, especially with more jobs becoming ‘graduate’, while the social risk has declined as HE has diversified. The paper draws on theoretical perspectives from Beck, Boudon, Simon and Kahneman to argue that many disadvantaged young people now view HE as a form of ‘insurance’ against an uncertain future.     

The Perception and Parameters of Intentional Voice Manipulation

Evidence suggests that people can manipulate their vocal intonations to convey a host of emotional, trait, and situational images. We asked 40 participants (20 men and 20 women) to intentionally manipulate the sound of their voices in order to portray four traits: attractiveness, confidence, dominance, and intelligence to compare these samples to their normal speech. We then asked independent raters of the same- and opposite-sex to assess the degree to which each voice sample projected the given trait. Women’s manipulated voices were judged as sounding more attractive than their normal voices, but this was not the case for men. In contrast, men’s manipulated voices were rated by women as sounding more confident than their normal speech, but this did not hold true for women’s voices. Further, women were able to manipulate their voices to sound just as dominant as the men’s manipulated voices, and both sexes were able to modify their voices to sound more intelligent than their normal voice. We also assessed all voice samples objectively using spectrogram analyses and several vocal patterns emerged for each trait; among them we found that when trying to sound sexy/attractive, both sexes slowed their speech and women lowered their pitch and had greater vocal hoarseness. Both sexes raised their pitch and spoke louder to sound dominant and women had less vocal hoarseness. These findings are discussed using an evolutionary perspective and implicate voice modification as an important, deliberate aspect of communication, especially in the realm of mate selection and competition.     

Bureaucratic manoeuvres and the local politics of climate change mitigation in China and India

This article explores how strategies of thinking and working politically are used by agencies within developing country governments to influence wider government agendas. It uses research on climate change mitigation in China and India to explore how government agencies seek to overcome challenges of limited capacity and competing priorities by bundling climate change together with more immediate priorities and thereby developing a coalition with an interest in achieving these objectives. The article is based on interviews conducted in China and India, as well as analysis of themes covered in the growing body of literature on the domestic politics of climate change mitigation. In both countries we found that pragmatic approaches leveraging what already exists made significant progress in putting energy efficiency on the agenda, strengthening institutional presence (in India) and delivering improvements in energy efficiency (in China). Yet, we also found that the use of these tactics had significant limitations. While there was probably no other way that the policy space given to climate change mitigation could have increased so rapidly, there are significant side effects that arise as a result of the traction gained by these initial policy approaches. While bundling raised the profile of energy efficiency, it also created perverse incentives that highlight the need to consider the long‐term effect on the interests, capacity and sustainability of informal coalitions. We highlight the need to take account of both the short‐ and long‐term effects of thinking and working politically, and the challenges of doing so when the outcomes are unpredictable and inherently difficult to assess.