Shrinkage Estimators for Prediction Out-of-Sample: Conditional Performance

We find that, in a linear model, the James–Stein estimator, which dominates the maximum-likelihood estimator in terms of its in-sample prediction error, can perform poorly compared to the maximum-likelihood estimator in out-of-sample prediction. We give a detailed analysis of this phenomenon and discuss its implications. When evaluating the predictive performance of estimators, we treat the regressor matrix in the training data as fixed, i.e., we condition on the design variables. Our findings contrast those obtained by Baranchik (1973 Baranchik , A. J. ( 1973 ). Inadmissibility of maximum likelihood estimators in some multiple regression problems with three or more independent variables . Ann. Statist. 1 ( 2 ): 312 – 321 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and, more recently, by Dicker (2012 Dicker , L. ( 2012 ). Dense signals, linear estimators, and out-of-sample prediction for high-dimensional linear models. arXiv:1102.2952 [math.ST].  [Google Scholar]) in an unconditional performance evaluation.     

Visiting the Allotment Garden—A Complete Experience

This study explored the experiences of healthy elderly regularly visiting the allotment gardens (AGs) in a large city of Norway. Semistructured interviews with eight elderly visitors were analyzed by applying Malterud's strategy for systematic text condensation. Three main themes evolved: AG as a context for social experience; AG as a context for restorative experiences; and AG as a context for reminiscence experiences. The findings underline the importance of AGs as a natural and cultural context and may encourage politicians and planners to take into consideration the importance of neighborhood outdoor contexts offering social, nature, and reminiscence experiences for elderly people.     

Hydrology of the Brooklyn Grange,an urban rooftop farm

Intensive agriculture is an emerging theme of green roof technology. Production of affordable, nutritious vegetables for local consumption and stormwater management are among the ecosystem services emphasized in studies of rooftop farming. However, intensive vegetable production requires irrigation, which can reduce stormwater retention, and there is little empirical data from full-scale operational rooftop farms. In this paper, we report the hydrologic performance of the Brooklyn Grange Navy Yard Farm, a 0.61-ha rooftop farm atop an 11-story building in New York City USA. We monitored soil water content, precipitation, irrigation, drainage, and crop yields to provide water balance and water use efficiency. We found cumulative discharge exceeded precipitation by 11% during the entire study period, hence the farm was a net source of water in the urban hydrologic cycle. Depending on crop types, water use efficiency at the Grange was lower than in-ground agriculture in dry regions with high irrigation demands. For the Brooklyn Grange to integrate stormwater management and water-efficient crop production, it will be important to increase soil water storage, to reduce irrigation demands and drainage loss of water while maintaining average soil moisture levels in the range of readily available water between 10 and 100 kPa of soil water tension.     

Achtsamkeit im organisationalen Kontext: Der Einfluss individueller und organisationaler Achtsamkeit auf resilientes Verhalten,psychische Gesundheit und Arbeitsengagement

This article in the journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation (GIO) presents mindfulness as a starting point for coping with the increasing and changing demands of today’s workplaces. Based on a differentiated analysis of mindfulness on the individual and organizational level, we discuss their separate contribution to resilient behavior in the workplace as well as on psychological well-being and work engagement. These assumptions were empirically verified. Overall, 172 persons participated in the study, which was implemented as a web-based questionnaire. The results showed that individual and organizational mindfulness independently contributed to resilient behavior in the workplace. Furthermore, individual mindfulness and resilient behavior promoted psychological well-being. Both individual and organizational mindfulness were significantly associated with work engagement. Additional analyses revealed that these effects were mediated by resilient behavior. In summary, the results demonstrated that individual and organizational mindfulness are distinct constructs whose influence on psychological well-being and work engagement could be partly explained by resilient behavior in the workplace.     

Top-Down Civic Projects Are Not Grassroots Associations: How The Differences Matter in Everyday Life

Research on civic associations blurs an important distinction between the unfunded, informal, ongoing associations that theorists like de Tocqueville described versus current participatory democracy projects that are funded by the state and large nongovernmental organizations, are open to all, and are usually short-term. Based on a long-term ethnography of youth programs in the United States, this paper shows that entities like these, which participants and researchers alike often called “volunteer” or “civic” groups, operate very differently from traditional civic groups. The ethnography systematically details prevalent tensions that actors face when they try to cultivate the civic spirit in these increasingly typical organizations.

Tradition and transition: Family change in Israel

This article describes recent family change in Israel. Two opposing forces affect this process—factors resisting change and attempting to preserve traditional patterns, and factors producing and driving change. The former are mainly religion, familism, and the political situation; the latter are mainly global cultural influences and the need to adapt to changing environments. As a consequence the magnitude of change as measured by rates of marriage, divorce, fertility, and new family formations lags behind similar transformations in other Western developed countries. An empirical study in Israel shows that a majority of married women and mothers perceive of both family and work in the labor market as highly important and combine them in practice. Their occupational aspirations and achievements are, nevertheless, limited by strong traditional norms of familism. She is the author of Social Work: The Case of a Semi-Profession; Science in Cultural Context: Soviet Scientists in Comparatrive Perspective; Hurdles in the Halls of Science: The Israeli Case; and articles on immigrant scientists, professionals in organizations, and women in nontraditional occupations.     

Methodological Nationalism,the Social Sciences,and the Study of Migration: An Essay in Historical Epistemology1

The article examines methodological nationalism, a conceptual tendency that was central to the development of the social sciences and undermined more than a century of migration studies. Methodological nationalism is the naturalization of the global regime of nation‐states by the social sciences. Transnational studies, we argue, including the study of transnational migration, is linked to periods of intense globalization such as the turn of the twenty‐first century. Yet transnational studies have their own contradictions that may reintroduce methodological nationalism in other guises. In studying migration, the challenge is to avoid both extreme fluidism and the bounds of nationalist thought.     

Hostile Worlds or Connected Lives? Research on the Interplay Between Intimacy and Economy

Economic sociologists have devoted most of their attention to the activities of individuals and firms in markets. However, recent attempts have pushed for a better understanding of the relationship between intimacy and economy. Such efforts have been inspired, in large part, by Viviana Zelizer (2000, 2005). In her inquiry on the purchase of intimacy, Zelizer proposed seminal differentiations between the “hostile worlds,” “nothing but,” and “connected lives” perspectives, and advanced a cultural relational analysis of the economy. In this essay, we review research that applies Zelizer's framework, and suggest substantive and analytical avenues for future research on economy/intimacy nexus.     

“The chug is coming through!” “There's two chuggas!”: A longitudinal study of the social function of imitation in children's play with siblings and friends

Imitation is argued to have an important affiliative function in social relationships. However, children's tendency to imitate different play partners during naturalistic play and associations with social understanding have been overlooked. We investigated the frequency and context of imitation in a longitudinal study of 65 focal children (T1: M age = 56.4 months, SD = 5.71) during play with their older or younger sibling and a friend in two separate play sessions. Children were observed again approximately 3 years later (T2: n = 46, M age = 94.6 months; SD = 6.6). We coded focal children's verbal and nonverbal imitation of their play partner, their partner's response to being imitated, the context in which imitation occurred (e.g., pretense), and the focal child's social understanding (i.e., mental state references). Verbal imitation occurred more often than nonverbal imitation and was used most often during the contexts of play negotiations and pretense. Although focal children's imitation of both their siblings and friends increased significantly over time, children imitated friends more than siblings at T1. All play partners responded positively (i.e., smiling, laughing) most often to being imitated. Associations between focal child imitation and mental state talk with friends at T2 approached significance. Our findings provide a deeper understanding of the nature of imitation during children's play interactions and support assertions that imitation is a process whereby children build affiliation, mutuality, and shared meanings in their relationships.