Characteristic properties of FPTP systems

In this article, we model FPTP systems as social preference rules and give two characterizations. We show that a social preference rule is an FPTP system if, and only if, it satisfies the axioms of subset consistency, district consistency, subset cancellation, and district cancellation. The second characterization consists of the axioms of subset consistency, subset anonymity, neutrality, topsonlyness, Pareto optimality, district consistency and district cancellation. The characterizations give us an opportunity to compare the characteristic properties of FPTP systems to the characteristic properties that we found for list systems of proportional representation (list PR systems) in Hout et al. (Social Choice and Welfare, 27:459–475, 2006), where we modelled those systems also as social preference rules. We find that consistency and anonymity distinguish list PR systems from FPTP systems. On the other hand, it is district cancellation that distinguishes FPTP systems from list PR systems.     

Who Believes in the Storybook Image of the Scientist?

Do lay people and scientists themselves recognize that scientists are human and therefore prone to human fallibilities such as error, bias, and even dishonesty? In a series of three experimental studies and one correlational study (total N = 3,278) we found that the “storybook image of the scientist” is pervasive: American lay people and scientists from over 60 countries attributed considerably more objectivity, rationality, open-mindedness, intelligence, integrity, and communality to scientists than to other highly-educated people. Moreover, scientists perceived even larger differences than lay people did. Some groups of scientists also differentiated between different categories of scientists: established scientists attributed higher levels of the scientific traits to established scientists than to early-career scientists and Ph.D. students, and higher levels to Ph.D. students than to early-career scientists. Female scientists attributed considerably higher levels of the scientific traits to female scientists than to male scientists. A strong belief in the storybook image and the (human) tendency to attribute higher levels of desirable traits to people in one’s own group than to people in other groups may decrease scientists’ willingness to adopt recently proposed practices to reduce error, bias and dishonesty in science.     

The next stage of managed care.

Since the turn of the century, we have gone from medicine as a cottage industry, based largely on barter, to the complex entity it is today. What we will see in the coming decade, if not sooner is the emergence of the next level of managed care. As managed care matures, contradictions in the health care system that we have not been able to resolve will be addressed, as well as other value-related issues. The ability to deliver value and then to monitor outcomes will be the nut to crack. The next big movement will be to hone in on outcomes and measurement. This will be the path to increasing the inherent value of the medical care system. This will go hana in hand with accountability, which is where physician-sponsored networks (PSNs) will be an indispensable tool. Centered as they are around accountability and responsibility, PSNs will be a natural starting point for developing the protocols to produce and collect this data. The standardization of care, anchored upon medical evidence, is the objective.     

“Spoken Word” and “Poetry Slams”: the voice of youth today

In this article the authors discuss a relatively new cultural expression that has become popular in high schools across the United States: Spoken Word and Poetry Slam. This type of poetry appeals to teenagers because it allows them to express themselves in their own language, and it allows them to address issues that they find important. This article describes the history of poetry slams, as well as the educational developments presently taking place in the United States and Europe.     

The Partial Linear Model in High Dimensions

Partial linear models have been widely used as flexible method for modelling linear components in conjunction with non‐parametric ones. Despite the presence of the non‐parametric part, the linear, parametric part can under certain conditions be estimated with parametric rate. In this paper, we consider a high‐dimensional linear part. We show that it can be estimated with oracle rates, using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator penalty for the linear part and a smoothness penalty for the nonparametric part.     

Romantic Relationship Commitment and Its Linkages with Commitment to Parents and Friends during Adolescence

This five‐wave longitudinal study examines linkages between adolescents' perceptions of romantic relationship commitment and the development of adolescents' perceptions of commitment to parents and friends. A total of 218 early‐to‐middle adolescents (39.0 percent boys) and 185 middle‐to‐late adolescents (30.8 percent boys) participated. Multivariate growth curves showed that higher base levels of commitment and a stronger positive development of commitment to parents and friends were associated with higher levels of later commitment to romantic partners. The effects were equally strong in early‐to‐middle adolescence and middle‐to‐late adolescence. Also, commitment to parents and commitment to friends were associated equally strong to romantic relationship commitment. No gender differences were found regarding these linkages. Overall, this study shows the importance of parents and friends for boys and girls regarding committed romantic relationships. The results support the idea of one stable and general working model used in different types of relationships.     

Othering the ‘leaky body’. An autoethnographic story about expressing breast milk in the workplace

In this paper, I present an autoethnographic story about my experiences of expressing breast milk at a Dutch university department. My story illustrates how interrelated and conflicting discourses about gender, motherhood, breastfeeding, embodiment and professionalism raised issues about (in)visibility, embodied control, spatiality and discipline of my body and shaped my experience as a newly maternal employee. This paper thus aims to include bodies and embodied experiences in organization studies and highlights the need to consider spatiality as an important topic of research. I address these issues in my writing and use insights from feminist poststructuralism to show how the experiences I describe are part of a larger cultural framework of power structures that produce the ‘leaky’ maternal body as the Other, subject to (self-)discipline and marginalization. I hope my story inspires reflexivity and empathic understanding of the complex reality of experiences related to expressing breast milk in the workplace.     

The Co-Evolution of Marriage and Parental Rights of Gays and Lesbians

ABSTRACT

Historically, federal and state legislation placed different conditions on same- and opposite-sex couples' ability to marry, adopt, or exercise their parental rights. Given the historical intertwining of marriage and parenting, legal issues remain hinged on differing conceptions of marriage and what constitutes a legal family in the United States, especially for same-sex partners compared to their different-sexed couple counterparts. This article provides a historical review of decisions that serve as the foundation for queer parenting rights in the United States. A key focus is on the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) marriage decision on queer parenting and its relevance to researchers and practitioners whose work involves queer families. State discrepancies continue to exist for the treatment of parental rights in spite of the legalization of same-sex marriage. Finally, suggestions are provided for future directions for the field.     

Citizenship education for a pluralistic world: the selection of children’s literature in Dutch Protestant primary schools

The goals of citizenship education are often contested in Protestant schools with an ethnically heterogeneous population of pupils in multicultural European societies today. This is connected to the tension between the inclusive goal of citizenship for a pluralistic world and the exclusive goal of education in the Christian faith. This paper presents an explorative study on citizenship education. It describes the opinions of teachers and parents on the selection and use of children’s literature in Dutch ‘liberal’ Protestant primary schools. The results show that most teachers favour the avoidance of books that might not fit in with the Protestant identity of the school or possibly raise objections from orthodox parents. There is considerable diversity in the positions parents take on the issue.