Rituals of Exchange in the Social World of Israeli Beggars: An Exploratory Study

Based on a fieldwork in a central bus station in Israel, this study offers a novel consideration of the symbolic interactions underlying processes of communication, social exchange, and status attainment among beggars. The case study presents a possible alternative to sociological analyses of beggary as “deviant activity” by drawing upon the constructs of social-world perspective and symbolic types.     

Automatic odor prediction for electronic nose

An electronic nose (e-nose), or artificial olfaction, is a device that analyzes the air to quantify odor concentration using an array of gas sensors. This equipment is a monitoring tool for industrial firms. There is a shortage of an algorithm to address odor prediction challenges in an automatic fashion. These challenges include unreliable data transfer due to sensor malfunction or missing data due to anomalies in mobile data connection. Providing such an algorithm avoids human intervention in data handling, and elevates electronic nose towards smart nose. We address these challenges by proposing a data validation and data imputation method combined with a robust odor prediction machinery. Our proposed algorithm is successfully implemented on the e-nose equipment and is serving the industry currently.     

The Effects of Pay Systems on Blue-Collar Employees' Emotional Distress: The Mediating Effects of Objective and Subjective Work Monotony

We hypothesized that employees' emotionaldistress would be affected by the degree to which theirpayment was contingent upon individual performance.Respondents were 2747 blue-collar employees in 21factories in Israel. They completed questionnaires oncompany time. We found that, in comparison with thosewho were paid only according to time worked, being on aperformance-contingent pay system was associated with higher levels of depression and somaticcomplaints, but not of anxiety. As expected, theseeffects were partially mediated by the extent to whichthe respondents' work was monotonous.     

A test of fit for a continuous distribution based on the empirical convex conditional mean function

Gupta and Kirmani (2008 Gupta, R.C., Kirmani, S.N.U.A. (2008). Characterization based on convex conditional mean function. J. Stat. Plann Inference. 138:964–970.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) showed that the convex conditional mean function (CCMF) characterizes the distribution function completely. In this paper, we introduce a consistent estimator of CCMF and call it empirical convex conditional mean function (ECCMF). Then we construct a simple consistent test of fit based on the integrated squared difference between ECCMF and CCMF. The theoretical and asymptotic properties of the estimator ECCMF and the proposed test statistic are studied. The performance of the constructed test is investigated under different distributions using simulations.     

An appropriate empirical version of skew-normal density

In this paper, we consider a constructive representation of skewed distributions, which proposed by Ferreira and Steel (J Am Stat Assoc 101:823–829, 2006), and its basic properties is presented. We study the five versions of skew- normal distributions in this general setting. An appropriate empirical model for a skewed distribution is introduced. In data analysis, we compare this empirical model with the other four versions of skew-normal distributions, via some reasonable criteria. It is shown that the proposed empirical model has a better fit for density estimation.     

Promoting positive development among refugee adolescents

Of the estimated 35.3 million refugees around the world (UNHCR, Figures at a Glance, 2022), approximately 50% are children under the age of 18. Refugee adolescents represent a unique group as they navigate developmental tasks in an unstable and often threatening environment or in resettlement contexts in which they often face marginalization. In addition to physiological, social, and psychological changes that mark adolescence, refugee youth often face traumatic experiences, acculturative stress, discrimination, and a lack of basic resources. In this consensus statement, we examine research on refugee adolescents' developmental tasks, acculturative tasks, and psychological adjustment using Suárez-Orozco and colleague's integrative risk and resilience model for immigrant-origin children and youth proposed by Suárez-Orozco et al. Finally, we discuss recommendations—moving from proximal to more distal contexts.     

A Critical Plot Twist: Changing Characters and Foreshadowing the Future of Organizational Storytelling

This review explores the evolution of scholarly research about organizational storytelling over the past 40 years in a sample of 165 papers published between 1975 and 2015. The authors contend that organizational storytelling has established a conventional foothold beside the dominant, scientific narrative of organization studies. Meanwhile, the voice of critical storytelling in organizations has emerged, confirming (and extending) five organizational storytelling themes identified by Rhodes and Brown: sensemaking (and subverting); communicating (and manipulating); change, learning (and challenge); power (and dissent); and identity and identification (and alienation). This review reveals the growing influence of critical management studies, emphasizing the role stories play in disrupting conventional narratives, enriching understanding of present and future storytelling in organizations, and of organizations in general.     

Correction to: Inequality Between Whom? Patterns,Trends, and Implications of Horizontal Inequality in the Philippines

Social Indicators Research - The article Inequality Between Whom? Patterns, Trends, and Implications of Horizontal Inequality in the Philippines, written by Omar Shahabudin McDoom, Celia Reyes,...     

中国城镇住房产权的区域差异分析——基于CGSS（2003）数据的实证研究

近年来，随着住房改革的日益深入，住房产权在社会分层中占有越来越重要的地位。但与其他经济指标一样．过往研究往往忽视其区域的差异性，然而这种经验结果是失之偏颇的。文章采用CGSS（2003）数据结合多层次模型分析方法探讨区域差异下住房产权的影响因素。研究发现：在区域差异前提下，中国转型期居民住房产权选择的变化是多种因素和机制共同作用的结果，而区域差异在一定程度上是由各个区域市场化程度差异影响的。