Measurement of Hispanic ethnicity in the U.S. census: an evaluation based on latent-class analysis

"Two models, the U.S. census model and the latent-class model, are compared in their application to evaluating measurements of ethnicity. Although the census approach assumes that the response categories of a questionnaire item correspond to groups in the population, the latent-class approach seeks to assess whether any set of response categories can represent observed ethnic heterogeneity. Data collected using the 1990 census Hispanic-origin question and other instruments for measuring ethnicity suggest that the latent-class approach is superior whenever the response categories are not known to be valid. In particular, using the latent-class model, this article rejects the census model's assumption of a single dimension of meaning underlying responses to the Hispanic-origin question."     

何时推进，何时退后

如何从不太重要的信息中找出重要的信息呢?在同老板的交往中通过了解他想从你那里了解什么,从而提前进行区分要达到企业所希望的结果,你需要依赖员工分享重要信息．提出他们在同客户、合作伙伴甚至是竞争对手的交往中形成的创意。但鼓励员工分享他们的深刻见解的同时．你也希望他们有自己的判断力。你不需要了解资料的所有细节。     

Vietnam’s economy: Achievements and perspective

In last several years, Vietnams economy has reached significant achievements. Those are clearly seen by analyzing economic growth, economic structure transformation, trade and investment and Vietnams economy competitiveness. However, in the process of development, Vietnams economy is still facing many difficulties and challenges. Vietnam is accelerating speed of innovation process, is active and quicker in international economic integration in order to complete the economic – social objectives in the period of 2001–2005 with annual average economic growth rate of 7.5%.     

Let's Call it Quits: Break‐Even Effects in the Decision to Stop Taking Risks

“Chasing” behavior, whereby individuals, driven by a desire to break even, continue a risky activity (RA) despite incurring large losses, is a commonly observed phenomenon. We examine whether the desire to break even plays a wider role in decisions to stop engaging in financially motivated RA in a naturalistic setting. We test hypotheses, motivated by this research question, using a large data set: 707,152 transactions of 5,379 individual financial market spread traders between September 2004 and April 2013. The results indicate strong effects of changes in wealth around the break‐even point on the decision to cease an RA. An important mediating factor was the individual's historical long‐term performance. Those with a more profitable trading history were less affected by a fall in cash balance below the break‐even point compared to those who had been less profitable. We observe that break‐even points play an important role in the decision of nonpathological risk takers to stop RAs. It is possible, therefore, that these nonpathological cognitive processes, when occurring in extrema, may result in pathological gambling behavior such as “chasing.” Our data set focuses on RAs in financial markets and, consequently, we discuss the implications for institutions and regulators in the effective management of risk taking in markets. We also suggest that there may be a need to consider carefully the nature and role of “break‐even points” associated with a broader range of nonfinancially‐focused risk‐taking activities, such as smoking and substance abuse.     

Fluctuations of grasshopper populations on aMiscanthus sinensis grassland

Summary Population densities of the three grasshopper species onMiscanthus sinensis grassland in the Kawatabi IBP Area, Japan,Parapleurus alliaceus, Mongolotettix japonicus andChorthippus latipennis, were estimated principally by the release-and-recapture method for five years from 1968 to 1972. The total number of individuals of all three grasshopper species was about 42 per 100m² in August. The number of individuals ofP. alliaceus adult, the dominant species on this grassland, showed a tendency to decline during the five years, though the amplitude was not so large. The number of eggs laid was, however, nearly constant and the mortality from the second nymphal instar to adult was relatively low and constant during the survey period. The weather conditions during the periods of egg and the first instar, such as snowfall and temperature decreasing, are suggested to be one of the factors causing variation in numbers. Contributions from JIBP-CT No. 145. A part of this study was supported by the special project, “Studies on the dynamic status of biosphere”, sponsored by the Ministry of Education.     

Response Effects in Sex Surveys

Two potential problems in sex surveys—respondent refusalsand invalid reporting—are examined for national and areaprobability samples of males and females. Little support isfound for the contention that sexual topics constitute a sensitiveresearch area in terms of respondent cooperation and candor.It is found that (1) respondent cooperation, as indicated byrefusals and terminations, is neither more nor less problematicin sex research than in surveys on other topics; (2) respondentreports of sexual matters are not systematically related tointerviewer characteristics such as gender, sexual experience,or technical competence; (3) respondent candor, when self-reported,also is not associated systematically with either interviewercharacteristics or demographic and sexual characteristics ofrespondents. This analysis does identify, however, evidencethat (4) sexual matters often are sensitive topics for interviewersand principal investigators, leading both to interviewer turnoverand the creative construction of unobtrusive data collectionprocedures.     

Conceptualizing reflection in experience-based workplace learning

This paper seeks to understand key dimensions of reflection in experience-based workplace learning for research being collaboratively undertaken by scholars in Dutch and US research institutions. We systematically explore and compare Tara Fenwick’s analysis of five perspectives on cognition to distinguish among constructivist, psychoanalytic, situative, critical-cultural, and enactivist perspectives on reflection. Our aim is to examine how to conceptualize reflection so that one or more perspectives can complement our understanding of learning through experience at work. We position reflection not only from a practical but also from a theoretical perspective that moves beyond the individual focus of the constructivist perspective. Fenwick’s five perspectives are described in terms of whether and how reflection is utilized, key activities in the process of reflection, relative focus on the individual and/or the context, triggers for reflection, role of power and positionality, role of emotions, and reflection outcomes. We conclude that adding other lenses to the dominant constructivist perspective helps expand our understanding of reflection as well as identify and attend to other tools, people, and factors in the work situation that influence reflection processes and learning outcomes. The paper closes with a discussion of promising new approaches that have emerged since Fenwick’s analysis.     

In Search of ‘Managerial Work’: Past,Present and Future of an Analytical Category

Based on a comprehensive review of literature, the paper examines how ‘managerial work’ as a fluid analytical category has been approached methodologically, theoretically and empirically for more than 60 years. In particular, it highlights the existence of competing scholarly understandings regarding its nature, performance, meaning and politics. The authors suggest that subsequent empirical investigations have too often worked, methodologically and theoretically, to slot in, and thus effectively reduce, the term to a particular pre‐existing box, rather than exploring open‐endedly the what and how, but also the why of ‘managerial work’ as a distinct mode of situated ordering. Having represented the concept's past and present by identifying four distinct research approaches reflected in representative publications, the authors suggest that more attention should be devoted to a mode of analytical departure that promises to address directly the suggested shortcomings in the literature. Specifically, it is argued that much could be gained if contemporary notions of practice were brought into the study of managerial work. To this end, the authors outline the contours of a practice‐based approach as a sensitizing framework for understanding managerial work by highlighting the situated, relational, sociomaterial, meaning‐making and consequence‐oriented analytical foci the approach suggests, and suggesting a number of conjoint research questions, as well as acknowledging subsequent limitations.     

Leadership of highly creative people in highly creative fields: A historiometric study of scientific leaders

In recent years there has been a marked increase in the study of the influence of leadership on creativity, and the effects of this relationship on organizational performance. While a number of explanations have been broached with regard to the positive effects of leadership on creativity, many of these studies propose different, and often contradictory, methods for leaders to achieve these positive effects on creativity within their organizations and work groups. Additionally, little work has been done examining the effects of leadership on highly creative people in fields requiring creativity. The purpose of this study is to examine two existing leadership theories with regard to their viability as models to explain creative performance of eminent scientists. Eminent scientists represent a population of leaders of highly creative individuals in a field that values the production of innovative ideas and products as a marker of performance. Ninety-three excerpts from the biographies of scientists were content coded for leader behaviors and performance criteria. The results of this analysis indicate that a model based on strategic planning and product championing may serve to explain the positive effects of leadership on creativity in a highly creative population.