Optimal Cost Sampling for Decision Making with Multiple Regression Models

This paper develops an explicit relationship between sample size, sampling error, and related costs for the application of multiple regression models in observational studies. Graphs and formulas for determining optimal sample sizes and related factors are provided to facilitate the application of the derived models. These graphs reveal that, in most cases, the imprecision of estimates and minimum total cost are relatively insensitive to increases in sample size beyond n=20. Because of the intrinsic variation of the regression model, even if larger samples are optimal, the relative change in the total cost function is small when the cost of imprecision is a quadratic function. A model-utility approach, however, may impose a lower bound on sample size that requires the sample size be larger than indicated by the estimation or cost-minimization approaches. Graphs are provided to illustrate lower-bound conditions on sample size. Optimal sample size in view of all considerations is obtained by the maximin criterion, the maximum of the minimum sample size for all approaches.     

Modelling individual fertility levels in Malawian women: a spatial semiparametric regression model

We applied semiparametric spatial Poisson models to analyse fertility decisions at individual level in Malawi. We used the 2000 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey (MDHS) to investigate determinants of fertility, in the model that allowed for nonlinear, fixed and spatial risk factors. Inference was based on the Bayesian approach. The unstructured spatial effects were modelled using the exchangeable prior, while for the structured spatial effects we used the intrinsic conditional autoregressive models. Nonlinear effects were modelled using P-splines. Results showed non-linear declining trends of fertility with year of marriage and increasing trends with age at marriage. We also observed significant unstructured effects, however, no significant spatial autocorrelated effects were displayed. Overall, total spatial effects were significantly different at district level.     

Anna Meeuwisese,Roberto Scaramuzzino (eds.), Europeanization in Sweden: Opportunities and Challenges for Civil Society Organizations

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations -     

How many Australian veterans are homeless? Reporting prevalence findings and method from a national study

This article presents findings from an Australian study of veteran homelessness (Hilferty, Katz et al. 2019). The AHURI Inquiry into Homelessness Amongst Australian Veterans was funded by the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) to estimate the number of homeless veterans and to examine veterans' pathways into homelessness, service usage patterns and ways that service responses may be improved. This article presents the prevalence findings and describes the method employed by the research team. Drawing on primary data and extrapolating results to a larger sample of veterans, the researchers estimate that approximately 5,800 contemporary veterans experience homelessness over a 12‐month period in Australia. This estimate – the first ever to be based on primary data – indicates that veteran homelessness is a much larger problem than previously estimated and deserves priority attention from policymakers and sectoral representatives.     

Cultural Studies and Deleuze-Guattari,Part 2: From Affect to Conjunctures†

This paper considers the state of the ‘field’ of affect studies and its development – partly through the involvement of one of its authors – over the course of decades. It argues that rather than identifying affect as the ‘other’ of signification and representation, thus ‘subtracting’ it from the conjuncture, one should understand the question of affect to point to the multiplicity of forms of sign behaviours – or, better, of forms of expression or collective assemblages of enunciation (in the terms of Deleuze and Guattari) that constitute a conjuncture in all its complexity. This article attempts to map this multiplicity by refining and expanding Guattari’s ‘mixed semiotics’. Finally, it offers a brief example of how such multiplicities (and their resulting hybridities) might be used to compare the ‘affective topographies’ and structures of feelings that have differentially enabled oppositional movements in the 1960s and the current moment.     

Interpersonal Emotion Regulation in the Workplace: A Conceptual and Operational Review and Future Research Agenda

Employees need to regulate their own emotions as well as the emotions of others to enhance the quality of interactions with their colleagues. How well this is achieved has important outcomes for both employees and the organizations in which they work. In the field of organizational science, however, differing approaches have emerged regarding the conceptualization and operationalization of emotion regulation (ER) particularly in terms of interpersonal interactions. The present review examines contemporary theoretical perspectives of ER and its measurement with a view to resolving the confusion that currently exists around interpersonal ER in a workplace context. To understand how this field of research has developed so diversely, the authors begin by demonstrating the influence of three major individual‐level ER models on interpersonal‐level approaches: (1) the ER process model; (2) emotional labor; and (3) emotional intelligence. Moreover, to make sense of the range of interpersonal‐level research underpinned by these theories, the authors present a 2×2 categorization, developed by Zaki and Williams (2013), which shows how workplace researchers have variously approached interpersonal ER as an intrinsic vs. extrinsic process, with activation of either response‐dependent or response‐independent categories. This categorization broadly shows interpersonal ER theory used in work contexts tends to fall into four groupings as: (1) a purely extrinsic process; (2) a differentiation of extrinsic interpersonal from intrinsic individual ER; (3) co‐occurring intrinsic and extrinsic interpersonal ER; or (4) interpersonal coregulation. This paper also discusses the measurement of interpersonal ER and concludes by highlighting emerging research directions.     

Effects of acute androstenedione supplementation on testosterone levels in older men

The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of acute androstenedione supplementation on hormone levels in older men at rest and during exercise. Men (n?=?11) between the ages of 58 and 69 were divided into an experimental (n?=?6; 62.33?±?2.57 y) and control (n?=?5; 60.2?±?1.02 y) groups. Each participant received an oral 300?mg dose of either androstenedione (experimental) or a cellulose placebo (control) for 7 d. Pre- and post-supplementation participants completed two separate, 20-min strength tasks consisting of leg extension and leg curls at different percentages of their 10-RM. Researchers collected blood samples pre-, during, and post-exercise. Blood samples were analyzed for testosterone, androstenedione, and estradiol levels. The researchers found a significant difference between pre- (4.36?±?56?ng/mL) and post- (5.51?±?0.35?ng/mL) testosterone levels, as well as pre- (0.88?±?0.20) and post- (7.46?±?1.25) androstenedione levels, but no significant differences between pre- and post-estradiol levels for either group. It appears that short-term androstenedione supplementation augmented acute testosterone responses to resistance exercise in older men. However, further study of this supplement is needed to determine any potential it may have in mitigating andropause.     

Family Structure Transitions and Changes in Maternal Resources and Well-being

This article uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine whether family instability is associated with changes in perceived social support, material hardship, maternal depression, and parenting stress among mothers of young children. In addition to accounting for the number of transitions that a mother experiences during the first five years of her child’s life, we pay close attention to the type and timing of these transitions. We find that mothers who transition to cohabitation or marriage with their child’s biological father experience declines in material hardship and that those who transition to cohabitation or marriage with another man exhibit modest declines in both material hardship and depression. Mothers who exit cohabiting or marital relationships encounter decreases in perceived social support and increases in material hardship, depression, and parenting stress. Overall, our results suggest that both the type and, to a much lesser degree, the timing of family structure transitions may influence maternal well-being.     

Equity: Not Only for Idealists

Growing disparities in development outcomes are storing up trouble for current and future generations. In addition to the moral issues raised and the intrinsic welfare effects for those experiencing relative deprivation, this article argues that recent research supports a stronger public‐policy focus on equity. Increasing inequity blunts both growth and the ability of growth to translate into human‐development outcomes, and puts institutions, social cohesion and the productivity of future generations at risk. The article highlights new micro evidence suggesting that a focus on the most marginal might well lead to higher benefit:cost ratios, and outlines the choices that need to be made to generate a more equity‐focused policy agenda.     

Are You Laughing at Them or with Them? Laughter as a Signal of In-Group Affiliation

Journal of Nonverbal Behavior - Despite the wide range of theoretical explanations for human laughter, it is generally agreed to function, at least in part, as a social signal. We tested the...