A note on asymptotics for quantile smoothing splines

When cubic smoothing splines are used to estimate the conditional quantile function, thereby balancing fidelity to the data with a smoothness requirement, the resulting curve is the solution to a quadratic program. Using this quadratic characterization and through comparison with the sample conditional quan-tiles, we show strong consistency and asymptotic normality for the quantile smoothing spline.     

Support Between Siblings and Between Friends: Two Worlds Apart?

This research examines whether siblings and friends resemble each other in supportive behavior. Using a Dutch national sample of 6,289 individuals containing 12,578 relationships with siblings and friends, we investigated the relative importance of gender composition, geographical proximity, relationship quality, and contact frequency for support exchange with siblings and friends. Results show that, controlling for other influences, siblings exchange more practical and less emotional support. High relationship quality and contact frequency are positively related to exchange of emotional support with siblings more than with friends, as is—unexpectedly—living further away. Fewer differences exist in practical support exchange. In conclusion, siblings and friends are similar with regard to practical support but different when it comes to emotional support.     

Maintaining strategic momentum: The CEO''s agenda

How does the chief executive of a large complex organization maintain strategic momentum? This represents a great challenge when there are no obvious external threats, and no obvious reasons for having a concerted action. Floris Maljers, Charles Baden-Fuller and Frans van den Bosch explore the inherent tensions which exist between stability and change. Change is necessary to maintain success, but too much change is disastrous. The authors argue that there are several possible solutions to this paradox, including that of generating periods of intense activity followed by periods of comparative stability and incremental improvement. Using the introspection of one of the CEOs of Unilever, who held office from 1984 to 1994, the authors examine how these tensions were played out and resolved.     

The interaction of aging and 10 years of racing on ultraendurance running performance

The aim of this study was to examine the interaction between aging and 10 years of racing in endurance runners. Race-time data from 194 runners who had completed 10 consecutive 56-km ultramarathons were obtained. The runners were either 20.5 +/- 0.7, 30.0 +/- 1.0, 39.9 +/- 0.9, or 49.4 +/- 1.0 years old at their first race. Each runner's race speed was determined for each race over the 10 years. Data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA, one-way ANOVA, and independent t tests and showed that performance improved and declined at greater rates for younger runners; younger runners had a greater capacity for improvement than older runners; approximately 4 years were required to reach peak racing speed, regardless of age; it was not possible to compete at peak speed for more than a few years; and the combined effects of 10 years of aging and racing neither improve nor worsen net performance. In conclusion, these data suggest that although these runners showed similar patterns of change in race speed over a 10-year period, the extent of change in performance was greater in younger than in older runners.     

Reclassifying causes of death to study the epidemiological transition in The Netherlands, 1875–1992

This article describes a method for reclassifying causes of death in the Netherlands for the period 1875–1992. Two criteria should be met to obtain a useful classification to study the epidemiological transition. First, the categories should be nosologically continuous over the period under study and second, there should be enough detail in causes which are important in the context of the epidemiological transition viz. communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases and external causes of death. A method developed by Vallin and Meslé (1988), which involves ‘dual correspondence tables’ and ‘fundamental associations’, was used to create nosologically continuous categories. These categories were tested for statistical continuity during the transition years of one ICD-revision to the next, using ordinary least squares regression analysis. The reclassification procedure resulted in a nested classification consisting of three levels of refinement of causes of death: 27 causes, 1875–1992; 65 causes, 1901–1992; and 92 causes, 1931–1992. On the basis of this classification, 43% of all deaths in 1875–79 and 98% of all deaths in 1992 could be allocated to either communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases or external causes.     

Women migrants in the global economy: a global overview (and regional perspectives)

ABSTRACT

Huge advances have been made in deepening and expanding our knowledge of gendered migration over the last decades in both theoretical and methodological terms. Empirically it is, however, still the case that North–South migration is at the basis of most theorisations, leaving the characteristics of South–South migration at the margins. In this paper we, therefore, shift the focus to intra- and trans-regional migration in a South–South context in exploring what this means for women migrants. While feminist scholars have highlighted care and the ways in which migration challenges social reproduction as an important issue, mainstream approaches continue to focus predominantly on the ‘productive’ lives of migrant workers. With migration theories still largely drawing on the experience of South–North migration, there continues to be relatively little understanding of South–South migration’s gender dynamics, despite the fact that many of the highly feminised, yet hyper-precarious, migration flows occur intra-regionally.     

Technological socialities: The impact of information and communication technologies on belonging among deaf and hard-of-hearing people

This review article examines how different types of communication technologies, from the specialized medical to generic social devices, influence belonging and sociality among deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) people. The emphasis is on DHH adolescents and young adults who may be impacted differently across countries, given state-specific policies regarding the status of sign language and deaf education, and based on different availability, affordability, and accessibility of communication technologies. We introduce different perspectives on deafness, ranging from pathological to cultural, a heuristic on which we build to explore DHH socialities as complex and evolving. We then analytically review ethnographic research on how cochlear implants impact DHH people's belonging to the “deaf world” and/or the “hearing world,” and how they navigate between these worlds. Then we move on to technologies such as text messages and social media, which enable DHH people to extend their socialities beyond local communities. Belonging is a fluid phenomenon, and technologies which are in a constant process of innovation and development may influence it in complex ways. We argue that to explore questions of belonging, identity, and sociality among DHH people, and how they are shaped by technologies, (visual) ethnographic methods are particularly productive.     

At the intersection of science,technology, engineering,and mathematics and business management in Canadian higher education: An intentional equity,diversity, and inclusion framework

In this study, the authors address the persistent discrimination cis women face in the Canadian science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) higher education context. Pulling on the notion of interrelationships that cross educational faculty boundaries and on intersectionality scholarship to unsettle the structural and disciplinary domains of power, the authors ask, “How can business education and STEM education work together with respect to social considerations, such as gender/race/ethnicity/etc., and social equity and inclusivity, within the Canadian higher education system?” This study aims to build on these interrelationships among diverse, complex individuals who participated in a graduate-level STEM and business management summer institute to provide an evidence-based and intentional equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) framework for STEM higher education contexts. Using a mixed-methods approach, which saw data collection via a survey instrument and semi-structured interviews, the subsequent quantitative analysis points to expanding interrelationships to broader areas beyond STEM and business management programs. The close reading of the collected qualitative data, via antenarrative spirals, elevates the participants' complexities beyond focusing “just” on their intersecting identities to looking at their perceptions of STEM fields, the order that ensues and the potential for the undoing of that order. The findings, results, and analyses of these collected data led to an intentional EDI framework, the main contribution of this study, constructed into three main pillars represented by the figure of a tree: the foundational elements (roots) built on individuals' complexities and experiences of Othering, the interrelationships (trunk) possible across various educational and professional dimensions, and a call to structural change initiatives (branches) with the possibility for growth in other areas. This work then contributes to not only filling a significant literature gap and building awareness regarding EDI concerns in STEM contexts via active interrelationship-building activities but also to unsettling the structural and disciplinary domains of power by embracing a holistic strategy to address systemic discriminatory practices in the Canadian STEM higher education context.     

Assessment of an e-training tool for college students to improve accuracy and reduce effort associated with reading nutrition labels

Objective: Nutrition labels are often underutilized due to the time and effort required to read them. We investigated the impact of label-reading training on effort, as well as accuracy and motivation. Participants: Eighty college students (21 men and 59 women). Methods: The training consisted of a background tutorial on nutrition followed by three blocks of practice reading labels to decide which of two foods was the relatively better choice. Label-reading effort was assessed using an eye tracker and motivation was assessed using a 6-item scale of healthy food-choice empowerment. Results: Students showed increases in label-reading accuracy, decreases in label-reading effort, and increases in empowerment. Conclusions: The nutrition label e-training tool presented here, whether used alone or as part of other wellness and health programs, may be an effective way to boost students’ label-reading skills and healthy food choices, before they settle into grocery shopping habits.     

Kommunikationsthemen im Coaching

Communication is present in any human interaction. Although it is not always focused as a specific goal the enhancement, development and maintenance of conversation skills is an essential task in coaching processes. Especially for academics communication topics are of considerable importance. An overview specifying career stage and typical communication issues is introduced for professors and young academics. Two detailed case studies shed light on the concrete work on conversation skills in academic coachings.