How to Create a Friendly Environment for Innovation? A Case for Europe

Social Indicators Research - It is a misjudgement to assume that R&D subsidies, patent protections or alike are sufficient to promote innovation. In fact, innovations incubate and hatch...     

Comparison of PLS algorithms when number of objects is much larger than number of variables

NIPALS and SIMPLS algorithms are the most commonly used algorithms for partial least squares analysis. When the number of objects, N, is much larger than the number of explanatory, K, and/or response variables, M, the NIPALS algorithm can be time consuming. Even though the SIMPLS is not as time consuming as the NIPALS and can be preferred over the NIPALS, there are kernel algorithms developed especially for the cases where N is much larger than number of variables. In this study, the NIPALS, SIMPLS and some kernel algorithms have been used to built partial least squares regression model. Their performances have been compared in terms of the total CPU time spent for the calculations of latent variables, leave-one-out cross validation and bootstrap methods. According to the numerical results, one of the kernel algorithms suggested by Dayal and MacGregor (J Chemom 11:73–85, 1997) is the fastest algorithm.     

Adolescent Health and Well‐Being in the Twenty‐First Century: A Global Perspective

Adolescence is a critical developmental period with long‐term implications for the health and well‐being of the individual and for society as a whole. The most significant factors to adolescents' health are found in their environments, and in the choices and opportunities for health‐enhancing or health‐compromising behaviors that these contexts present (e.g., exposure to violence, supportive families). Inadequate contexts represent a failure to invest in and protect adolescents, a choice to alienate rather than integrate them into society. This article describes a number of societal trends, including growing poverty and income disparities, government instability, the changing health‐care system, the spread of HIV/AIDS, increased migration and urbanization, changing family and cultural contexts, and new information technology. The health implications of these trends for the well‐being of adolescents in the 21st century are contemplated.     

Commissioned analysis of surgical performance using routine data: lessons from the Bristol inquiry

The public inquiry into paediatric cardiac surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary commissioned the authors to design and conduct analyses of routine data sources to compare surgical outcomes between centres. Such analyses are necessarily complex in this context but were further hampered by the inherent inconsistencies and mediocre quality of the various sources of data. Three levels of analysis of increasing sophistication were carried out. The reasonable consistency of the results arising from different sources of data, together with a number of sensitivity analyses, led us to conclude that there had been excess mortality in Bristol in open heart operations on children under 1 year of age. We consider criticisms of our analysis and discuss the role of statisticians in this inquiry and their contribution to the final report of the inquiry. The potential statistical role in future programmes for monitoring clinical performance is highlighted.     

Shameless Accounts: Against Psychological Subjectivity and Vulnerable Femininity Among Prisoners’ Wives in Israel

This article examines the accounts of prisoners’ wives in Israel regarding their relationships with social workers. Meetings with social workers are mandatory for wives to obtain benefits for their husbands and children. The principal findings describe the overt objection by the prisoners’ wives to the psychological discourse that the social workers offer, as well as the therapeutic subjectivity ideal, and the vulnerable femininity that accompanies this discourse. Furthermore, the article reveals the agentic decisions by these prisoners’ wives to switch from one resistance strategy (overt resistance) to another (compromise attempts), and then a third (strategic passing). The discussion section depicts the research singularity of our article in the context of the link between welfare, therapeutic governance, and resistance.     

Power-Divergence Test Statistics for Testing Linear by Linear Association

Power-divergence test statistics have been considered to test linear by linear association for two-way contingency tables. These test statistics have been compared based on designed simulation study and asymptotic results for 2 × 2, 2 × 3, and 3 × 3 tables. According to the results, there are test statistics with better properties than the well-known likelihood ratio test statistic for small and moderate samples.     

Zur Aktualität des Kompetenzbegriffs und zur Bedeutung der Kompetenz-entwicklung für das Coaching

The popular use of the term “competence” and the significance of competence development in coachingThe term “competence” is frequently used by employers, employees, trainers and authors alike, though in many cases the concept behind this term might differ considerably. But what does competence really mean, how does competence differ from other concepts like qualification, ability and skill and what is essential in developing competencies? If competence is seen as a disposition of self-organization, it helps people to solve unknown and difficult requirements based on their knowledge. The basic aim of coaching is the development of job-related competencies. Particularly social and personal competencies can be highly improved and enlarged by coaching. Thereby the coach takes the role of a consultant, who assists the coachees during their learning process and supports them with appropriate methods and tools.     

Factors supporting resilience during out-of-home care: Experiences of former child welfare clients in Finland

This study aimed to identify factors supporting young people's resilience during out-of-home care (OOHC) in Finland, despite challenges in their lives. In our qualitative study, we applied a social-ecological framework to understand the experiences and perspectives of young people on what helped them and the help they would have needed during OOHC. The findings indicate (1) individual characteristics and interests (positive attitude, understanding own acts and their consequences and meaningful activities), (2) relationships (good relationships with close ones, ability to meet and keep contact with close ones, good relationships with professionals and relationships between parents and professionals) and (3) institutions (place of OOHC, youth-centered practices, needs-based services and support for the family) all supported the resilience of young people in OOHC. Further, to receive support from a particular medium, such as professionals (relationship level), a young person must already have some self-understanding (individual level) of things. Essentially, youth resilience is supported through all these levels as a process.     

没有公众的公共空间:北京大栅栏院落调整中的国家与个人

本文采用社会学干预的研究方法,在北京大栅栏的院落空间调整中讨论了公共空间的含义与公共重建的问题。与西方将公共空间作为具有政治或社会意义的公共生活不同,大栅栏的居民从所有权出发将公共空间定义为国家财产,又在使用中逐渐侵占并瓜分了这些在管理上被忽视的国家空间。这既是住房等公共服务欠缺的结果,也被历史形成的国家与个人关系所建构,公共空间因此充满了各类行动者在日常生活与社会实践中的互动。本文将介绍两个强干预的社会行动案例,它们分别以“孵育社会生活”和“划分公私边界”为思路进行院落空间调整实验,但前者失败,后者成功。结论部分对此进行反思并指出,公共重建需要调整空间中的国家与个人关系,并建立公共空间使用的规则。     

Paths to citizenship? Public views on the extension of rights to legal and second‐generation immigrants in Europe

This study uses variations in the legal-institutional frameworks of citizenship to explore cross-nationally public views about granting equal rights to legal immigrants and citizenship status to second-generation immigrants in 20 European countries. We link the literatures on citizenship regimes and attitudes toward immigrants to construct a conceptual model that is tested using ISSP data from 2003 and a set of matching contextual measures. Results from hierarchical linear regression analyses indicate that (1) opposition to the extension of rights to legal immigrants is augmented by shorter periods of required residency for naturalization and (2) granting citizenship status to second-generation immigrants is not sensitive to whether a regime consents or not to citizenship by birth. Net of individual and contextual controls, the findings also show that resistance to the expansion of rights to legal immigrants is higher in countries consenting to dual citizenship. Furthermore, our analyses reveal that Eastern European respondents do not differ significantly from their Western counterparts with respect to extending rights to either category of immigrants. These results are discussed in reference to the diversity of citizenship regimes in Europe and in light of the existing debates on harmonizing immigration policies.