Micro‐Situational Antecedents of Violent Atrocity1

This article presents an analysis of video recordings showing micro‐situational events that preceded the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in which more than 7,000 Bosnian‐Muslim men were killed by troops of the Bosnian Serb Army. The article focuses on the sequential unfolding of micro interactions and emotional dynamics that preceded the atrocity. Micro interactions constitute situational turning points toward, or away from, atrocities. Even if there are preplanned plots or macro‐structural background conditions that lead particular persons to be motivated to commit violence, a micro‐situational, emotional momentum is needed for atrocities to occur. The article brings together the analysis of video material of violent situations with Ekman’s research tools for emotional cues and Collins’s micro‐sociological theory of violence.     

Ist Authentizität möglich?

From my observation the term authenticity is usually linked to high expectations on the interaction partner’s cognitive and expressive abilities. Analysis shows: clear messages about one’s cognitive process do not allow the conclusion that such processes proceed in straight forward, linear ways. In fact, inner cognitive processes have proved to be a dynamic liaison of the orderly and disorderly, the complete and the fragmented, continuity and discontinuity. Therefore it is recommandable to redefine the term authenticity and to draw educational consequences accordingly.     

A Hausman test for Brownian motion

New tests are proposed for the specification of the intraday price process of a risky asset, based on open, high, low, and close prices. Under the null of a Brownian process we derive two stochastically independent, unbiased volatility estimators. For a Hausman specification test we prove its equivalence with an F-test, consider its robustness against variation in drift and volatility, and analyze the power against an Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process, as well as a random walk with alternative distributions.     

An L1-type estimator of multivariate location and shape

The main goal of the paper is to specify a suitable multivariate multilevel model for polytomous responses with a non-ignorable missing data mechanism in order to determine the factors which influence the way of acquisition of the skills of the graduates and to evaluate the degree programmes on the basis of the adequacy of the skills they give to their graduates. The application is based on data gathered by a telephone survey conducted, about two years after the degree, on the graduates of year 2000 of the University of Florence. A multilevel multinomial logit model for the response of interest is fitted simultaneously with a multilevel logit model for the selection mechanism by means of maximum likelihood with adaptive Gaussian quadrature. In the application the multilevel structure has a crucial role, while selection bias results negligible. The analysis of the empirical Bayes residuals allows to detect some extreme degree programmes to be further inspected.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Michael Corsten,Hartmut Rosa und Ralph Schrader</Emphasis> (Hg.): Die Gerechtigkeit der Gesellschaft

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Allelic variation and human longevity

Human longevity is a complex phenotype with a strong genetic contribution. The search for allelic variation that impacts on longevity often involves population-based association studies of long-lived individuals (centenarians and nonagenarians) and younger controls. A major methodological problem with this approach is that the cases and controls in these experiments are often born several generations apart. The inherent absence of "age matching" can lead to serious misinterpretations. For example, allele frequency differences between long-lived individuals and younger controls may not reflect an effect on longevity but rather a change in population structure over time or different gene-environment interactions across generations.