Actual Empirical Data Research Articles

Machine Learning Early Detection of SARS-CoV-2 High-Risk Variants.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has evolved many high-risk variants, resulting in repeated COVID-19 waves overthe past years. Therefore, accurate early warning of high-risk variants is vital for epidemic prevention and control. However, detecting high-risk variants through experimental and epidemiological research is time-consuming and often lags behind the emergence and spread of these variants. In this study, HiRisk-Detector a machine learning algorithm based on haplotype network, is developed for computationally early detecting high-risk SARS-CoV-2 variants. Leveraging over 7.6 million high-quality and complete SARS-CoV-2 genomes and metadata, the effectiveness, robustness, and generalizability of HiRisk-Detector are validated. First, HiRisk-Detector is evaluated on actual empirical data, successfully detecting all 13 high-risk variants, preceding World Health Organization announcements by 27 days on average. Second, its robustness is tested by reducing sequencing intensity to one-fourth, noting only a minimal delay of 3.8 days, demonstrating its effectiveness. Third, HiRisk-Detector is applied to detect risks among SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant sub-lineages, confirming its broad applicability and high ROC-AUC and PR-AUC performance. Overall, HiRisk-Detector features powerful capacity for early detection of high-risk variants, bearing great utility for any public emergency caused by infectious diseases or viruses.

Sugarcane bagasse ash as a partial replacement for cement in paste and mortar formulation – A case in the Philippines

The quality of sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA) varies significantly from one locality to another. It greatly influences its performance when used as cement replacement, thus requiring actual empirical data to be generated. This research explored the potential of locally available SCBA in the Philippines as a partial cement replacement material and assessed the appropriate formulations of the paste component with SCBA as part of the cement to be used for mortar and concrete production in the future. Mixtures with different SCBA-to-binder ratios (SBR) up to 20%, and water-to-binder ratios (WBR), were formulated to determine their effects on the consistency and setting time of paste, consistency of fresh mortar, density, and compressive strength of hardened mortar. Multivariate regression analysis was adopted to better interpret the influence of SBR and WBR on the different responses and generate models for their subsequent prediction, including the water requirement, to achieve normal consistency. It was found that increasing SBR from 0.00 to 0.20 increased the water demand for the paste from 0.27 to 0.36 WBR. An increase in the WBR subsequently increases the initial setting time to as much as 198 ± 16 min and the final setting time to 288 ± 4 min. The water demand for mortars also increased with increasing SBR to achieve the same workability. Generally, the models generated enabled good predictability (≥90% accuracy) of the water requirements of both paste and mortar. The density and compressive strength of mortars improved with SBR at 0.05 but then decreased as the SBR was increased. However, mixtures with SBR at 0.10 reached a compressive strength comparable to mixtures with pure cement, rendering the maximum amount that the cement can be replaced at 10%.

The Personality of the Violator of Air Traffic and Air Transport Operations’ Safety Rules: An Integrated Portrait

There is currently no research of the personality the violator of air traffic and air transport operations’ rules (Art. 263 of the CC of the RF) that is based on actual empirical data. Such a personality description will improve the effectiveness of investigating this type of crimes and will contribute to their prevention and the prevention of air traffic accidents in general. The authors of the article studied the materials of criminal cases, reports of the Interstate Aviation Committee on the results of investigating air accidents, and specialist literature, conducted a survey of pilots and candidates who want to study this specialty, analyzed biophysiological, social-demographic, social role and moral-psychological characteristics (traits, features, connections between them) typical of the subjects of crimes under consideration. The conducted research allowed the authors to establish that a typical violator of air traffic and air transport operations’ safety rules is a male with necessary training and sufficient professional experience, having a valid certificate of an aviation specialist who passed the examination by a medical-flight expert commission. Based on the social role and moral-psychological qualities, two types of subjects of the analyzed crimes are singled out: first, aviation specialists (mostly pilots) who generally observe the requirements and never violated safety rules earlier but who, due to a number of reasons, often psychological ones (high anxiety level, lower resistance to interfe­rence, unfocused attention, tiredness, etc.) could not cope with an emergency during a flight; second, aviation specialists who intentionally violate air traffic and air transport operations’ safety rules (specifically through neglecting rules, underestimation of danger, excessive self-confidence, excessive risk-taking, etc.) as they believe that publicly dangerous consequences of their actions (inaction) will not happen or could be prevented thanks to their «flying skills», professional experience (negligent guilt is in such cases manifested by carelessness or thoughtlessness, correspondingly).

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PRINCIPLE OF JUDICIAL PROTECTION OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT RIGHTS IN THE NATIONAL COURTS’ PRACTICE: THE UKRAINIAN EXPERIENCE

Background: The article is devoted to the consideration of the principle of judicial protection of local self-government rights in the practice of the Supreme Court. The authors examined the constitutional and international legal guarantees of local self-government rights and emphasised that, compared to individual European states, Ukraine received the proper legal basis for the effective guarantee and protection of local self-government as an important institution of the democratic state. Attention is paid to the analysis of the principle of judicial protection of local self-government in Ukrainian and European scientific literature. It is emphasised that guaranteeing the effectiveness of the local self-government is one of the main purposes of judicial protection of local self-government rights. The article also considers certain problems related to the proper implementation of regulatory provisions on judicial protection. In particular, it emphasises the importance of substantiating the appeal to the judicial authorities specifically for the purpose of protecting the interests of the territorial community in legal relations with ate power. The authors also outline the problem of choosing a jurisdiction for the consideration of disputes in which local self-government bodies act as one party. It was determined that in terms of the right of a local self-governing body to apply to a court with a claim against another public authority in order to protect the rights and interests of the relevant territorial community, a certain practice has been formed. On the basis of the analytical research, certain categories of cases considered by Ukrainian courts in the context of the right to judicial protection of local self-government were identified and analysed. In particular, the cases of lawsuits by local self- government bodies to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine regarding the formation and liquidation of sub-regional administrative-territorial units were analysed; cases of claims of local self- government bodies to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine regarding territorial transformations; cases of lawsuits between local self-government bodies. Special attention is paid to the practice of the prosecutor’s appeal to the court in the interests of the state in the person of the local self- government body. Methods: The authors used comparative synthesis methods and information analysis. Actual empirical data are used to argue for the conclusions. Results and Conclusions: The authors draw conclusions about the implementation of the principle of judicial protection of local self-government rights in the practice of Ukrainian courts. Separate problems concerning the possibility of a local self-government body appealing to the courts are also analysed.

Virtual Connectomic Datasets in Alzheimer's Disease and Aging Using Whole-Brain Network Dynamics Modelling.

Large neuroimaging datasets, including information about structural connectivity (SC) and functional connectivity (FC), play an increasingly important role in clinical research, where they guide the design of algorithms for automated stratification, diagnosis or prediction. A major obstacle is, however, the problem of missing features [e.g., lack of concurrent DTI SC and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) FC measurements for many of the subjects]. We propose here to address the missing connectivity features problem by introducing strategies based on computational whole-brain network modeling. Using two datasets, the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) dataset and a healthy aging dataset, for proof-of-concept, we demonstrate the feasibility of virtual data completion (i.e., inferring "virtual FC" from empirical SC or "virtual SC" from empirical FC), by using self-consistent simulations of linear and nonlinear brain network models. Furthermore, by performing machine learning classification (to separate age classes or control from patient subjects), we show that algorithms trained on virtual connectomes achieve discrimination performance comparable to when trained on actual empirical data; similarly, algorithms trained on virtual connectomes can be used to successfully classify novel empirical connectomes. Completion algorithms can be combined and reiterated to generate realistic surrogate connectivity matrices in arbitrarily large number, opening the way to the generation of virtual connectomic datasets with network connectivity information comparable to the one of the original data.

Three Generations of Intergenerational Transmission of Neighbourhood Context

The literature on intergenerational contextual mobility has shown that neighbourhood status is partly ‘inherited’ from parents by children. Children who spend their childhood in deprived neighbourhoods are more likely to live in such neighbourhoods as adults. It has been suggested that such transmission of neighbourhood status is also relevant from a multiple generation perspective. To our knowledge, however, this has only been confirmed by simulations and not by empirical research. This study uses actual empirical data covering the entire Swedish population over a 25-year period, to investigate intergenerational similarities in neighbourhood status for three generations of Swedish women. The findings suggest that the neighbourhood environments of Swedish women are correlated with the neighbourhood statuses of their mothers and, to some extent, grandmothers. These results are robust over two different analytical strategies—comparing the neighbourhood status of the three generations at roughly similar ages and at the same point in time—and two different spatial scales. We argue that the finding of such effects in (relatively egalitarian) Sweden implies that similar, and possibly stronger, patterns are likely to exist in other countries as well.

Comparative Cost Analysis of Domestic Container Shipping Network: A Case Study of Indonesian Sea-Toll Concept

The Logistics Performance Index (LPI) of Indonesia shows minor improvement compared to neighbouring countries such as Singapore and Malaysia. The economic disparity between Indonesia’s eastern and western regions has reportedly become one of the fundamental problems in the country. Consequently, an ambitious project on shipping connectivity improvement, namely the ‘Sea-Toll’, has been proclaimed by the Indonesian government to overcome this chronic problem. One of the most influential parameters for measuring the success rate of this project is cost efficiency. Therefore, this paper proposes a comparative approach by constructing a generalised cost model. It develops a measurement for transport costs that combines actual freight cost with the value of time attached to delivery activities concerning cargo types. Overall results study depend on the shipping network is described in terms of a current and future condition. This condition is because the factor of economies of scale has a significant influence in the combination of actual empirical data and extractions of regression approach with the function of vessel size. Finally, all scenarios show that there is a positive relationship with a convincing impact on efforts to save costs for domestic shipping routes after the implementation of the sea-Toll program.

The structuration of a sporting social system? Northern Ireland fans, Football for All and the creation of the Green and White Army

In terms of the extant literature to date on sport and fandom in the divided society of Northern Ireland, academic attention has focused almost exclusively on its apparently contentious nature. However, until now, there has been a dearth of actual empirical data to inform such analyses. This article is designed to help rectify this deficit by drawing upon interviews with Northern Ireland football supporters and Irish Football Association staff to explore their co-creation of the Football for All campaign, which aimed to challenge sectarian fan behaviour within the national stadium. This resulted in the previously variegated Northern Ireland fan base becoming the Green and White Army, an informal collective identity for supporters. In continually (re)producing the Green and White Army as a ‘social system’, it is argued that fans are knowledgeable actors who continually draw upon what Giddens refers to as practical and discursive consciousness. Informed by Giddens’ structuration theory, the article argues that in relation to the current policies of the Union of European Football Associations and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association to close stadiums in the event of ‘discriminatory’ fan behaviour, priority should instead be given to supporting fan activism to effectively challenge such behaviour at matches; particularly given the potential for social control over supporters in a situated geographical space.

대학생의 심리적 증상과 대학생활적응 간의 구조적 관계: 강점인식과 강점활용의 매개효과 검증

The aim of this study is to verify the mediating effects of strength knowledge and strength use in consideration of the relationship between psychological symptoms including depression, anxiety, somatization symptoms and college adjustment of college students. Among the respondents conducted at D University in Busan, 221 students who answered for this study. The results of this study are as follows. First, Psychological symptoms had a negative relationship with strength recognition, use of strengths, and adaptation to college life. Second, the fitness of the proposed model was verified, and the result showed that the established research model corresponded with the actual empirical data. Psychological symptoms has a negative effect on strength knowledge, strength knowledge has a positive effect on strength use, and strength use has a positive effect on college adjustment of college students. The relationship between psychological symptom and college adjustment of college students showed the double mediation effect of strength knowledge and strength use. Based on the results, the significance and implications of this study were discussed.

Critical Discourse Analysis and the Editorial 2.0: News Reception and User-generated Comments in Discourses about (Im)migration

In most traditional accounts of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) text and discourse are viewed as being the product of a one-directional flow of information from a handful of dominant (and powerful) text producers to an seemingly subordinate mass of readers who passively consume texts. To this end, CDA proclaims an interest in both production and reception factors as they are reflected in social practices (Fetzer & Johansson, 2008). Yet, in the CDA literature actual empirical data focusing on reception factors have often been lacking and/or have been limited to the researcher’s personal reading of a text. With the advent and spread of converged media platforms (Herring, 2013) and the new discourse practices this entails such factors need to be reconsidered and the more prominent role played by users in both reception and (co-)construction of texts embraced (Boyd, 2014). This work focuses on the importance of user-generated content in user comments written in response to online newspaper editorials and proposes that such commenting practices not only change media discourse and social practice but also, ultimately, may upend the traditional flow of media discourse, transforming it from a primarily top-down, one-to-many model to a more interactive and participatory model that fosters many-to-many participation schemes (KhosraviNik & Zia, 2014). In traditional print newspapers text consumers had few opportunities to respond directly to a topic they felt strongly about if not in the form of a “letter to the editor” which was not guaranteed publication. Furthermore, editorials, as the official mouthpiece of a news organisation, were seen as playing a predominant role in evaluating issues, forming public opinion and eliciting reader support and agreement (Henry & Tator, 2002; Moon, 1994; Van Dijk, 1991). Today, most online newspapers allow users to comment on both news reports and opinion articles, including editorials, in which they can react to as well as interact with media texts. Such social interaction gives the (CDA) researcher access to valuable user-generated content which can help to gauge, in part, the degree to which such media texts as editorials still have in forming and swaying public opinion. By focusing on reader comments in a limited set of editorials (dealing with the European migrant crisis), this study attempts to determine readers’ varying opinions about the issue and how this reflects and/or diverges from the view(s) presented by the editorial. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the empirical data (the editorials and reader comments) aim to demonstrate the various representations of society inherent in online newspaper discourse. In particular, the analysis focuses on the linguistic means adopted by text producers to align themselves with (proximization) or differentiate themselves from (distancing) from the views presented in the editorial. Thus, the work is interested in the ways in which powerful public discourses are received by the general public through the interactive feature of text commenting available on many media platforms. Text commenting, in turn, is seen as crucial to understanding how certain texts are received and transformed by different types of (social) media users in the online newspaper.

The triple-filter bubble: Using agent-based modelling to test a meta-theoretical framework for the emergence of filter bubbles and echo chambers.

Filter bubbles and echo chambers have both been linked recently by commentators to rapid societal changes such as Brexit and the polarization of the US American society in the course of Donald Trump's election campaign. We hypothesize that information filtering processes take place on the individual, the social, and the technological levels (triple‐filter‐bubble framework). We constructed an agent‐based modelling (ABM) and analysed twelve different information filtering scenarios to answer the question under which circumstances social media and recommender algorithms contribute to fragmentation of modern society into distinct echo chambers. Simulations show that, even without any social or technological filters, echo chambers emerge as a consequence of cognitive mechanisms, such as confirmation bias, under conditions of central information propagation through channels reaching a large part of the population. When social and technological filtering mechanisms are added to the model, polarization of society into even more distinct and less interconnected echo chambers is observed. Merits and limits of the theoretical framework, and more generally of studying complex social phenomena using ABM, are discussed. Directions for future research such as ways of comparing our simulations with actual empirical data and possible measures against societal fragmentation on the three different levels are suggested.

Making the world a simpler place: the modeller’s temptation to seek alternative trial results

### Summary box Murray et al suggest, via sophisticated mathematical modelling, that a radio intervention saved thousands of lives in Burkina Faso because it increased care-seeking for childhood illnesses, and...

Analysis of Causation of a Flour Dust Explosion in an Industrial Plant

Common solids (e.g., flour, sugar, etc.,) can be suspended and transported in air via pneumatic conveying systems. Finely divided solid substances dispersed into a dust cloud (e.g., into a silo) can form a potential explosive atmosphere, if in the right concentration with the oxidizing agent (e.g., air). In addition, it is known that the pneumatic handling of substance, which allows its transport at a certain velocity, can generate static charges; thus, a possible competent ignition source may be also created. In this paper, the causation of an actual dust explosion involving a flour silo being loaded from a tank truck through pneumatic conveying systems in an industrial plant is analyzed. The mechanisms of static discharge applicable to the case in question are discussed, in light of both actual empirical data collected at the incident site, and theory. To fully explain the events that led to the explosion, plausible hypotheses and alternative to static discharge were also evaluated.

Characterization of Patients Who Present With Insomnia: Is There Room for a Symptom Cluster-Based Approach?

This study examined empirically derived symptom cluster profiles among patients who present with insomnia using clinical data and polysomnography. Latent profile analysis was used to identify symptom cluster profiles of 175 individuals (63% female) with insomnia disorder based on total scores on validated self-report instruments of daytime and nighttime symptoms (Insomnia Severity Index, Glasgow Sleep Effort Scale, Fatigue Severity Scale, Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Pre-Sleep Arousal Scale), mean values from a 7-day sleep diary (sleep onset latency, wake after sleep onset, and sleep efficiency), and total sleep time derived from an in-laboratory PSG. The best-fitting model had three symptom cluster profiles: "High Subjective Wakefulness" (HSW), "Mild Insomnia" (MI) and "Insomnia-Related Distress" (IRD). The HSW symptom cluster profile (26.3% of the sample) reported high wake after sleep onset, high sleep onset latency, and low sleep efficiency. Despite relatively comparable PSG-derived total sleep time, they reported greater levels of daytime sleepiness. The MI symptom cluster profile (45.1%) reported the least disturbance in the sleep diary and questionnaires and had the highest sleep efficiency. The IRD symptom cluster profile (28.6%) reported the highest mean scores on the insomnia-related distress measures (eg, sleep effort and arousal) and waking correlates (fatigue). Covariates associated with symptom cluster membership were older age for the HSW profile, greater obstructive sleep apnea severity for the MI profile, and, when adjusting for obstructive sleep apnea severity, being overweight/obese for the IRD profile. The heterogeneous nature of insomnia disorder is captured by this data-driven approach to identify symptom cluster profiles. The adaptation of a symptom cluster-based approach could guide tailored patient-centered management of patients presenting with insomnia, and enhance patient care.

Sexual orientation differences in treatment expectation, alliance, and outcome among patients at risk for suicide in a public psychiatric hospital

BackgroundSexual minority (SM) individuals (gay, lesbian, bisexual, or otherwise nonheterosexual) are at increased risk for mental disorders and suicide and adequate mental healthcare may be life-saving. However, SM patients experience barriers in mental healthcare that have been attributed to the lack of SM-specific competencies and heterosexist attitudes and behaviors on the part of mental health professionals. Such barriers could have a negative impact on common treatment factors such as treatment expectancy or therapeutic alliance, culminating in poorer treatment outcomes for SM versus heterosexual patients. Actual empirical data from general psychiatric settings is lacking, however. Thus, comparing the treatment outcome of heterosexual and SM patients at risk for suicide was the primary aim of this study. The secondary aim was to compare treatment expectation and working alliance as two common factors.MethodsWe report on 633 patients from a suicide prevention inpatient department within a public psychiatric hospital. Most patients were at risk for suicide due to a recent suicide attempt or warning signs for suicide, usually in the context of a severe psychiatric disorder. At least one indicator of SM status was reported by 21% of patients. We assessed the treatment outcome by calculating the quantitative change in suicide ideation, hopelessness, and depression. We also ran related treatment responder analyses. Treatment expectation and working alliance were the assessed common factors.ResultsContrary to the primary hypothesis, SM and heterosexual patients were comparable in their improvement in suicide ideation, hopelessness, or depression, both quantitatively and in treatment responder analysis. Contrary to the secondary hypothesis, there were no significant sexual orientation differences in treatment expectation and working alliance. When adjusting for sociodemographics, diagnosis, and length of stay, some sexual orientation differences became significant, indicating that SM patients have better outcomes.ConclusionsThese unexpected but positive findings may be due to common factors of therapy compensating for SM-specific competencies. It may also be due to actual presence of SM competencies – though unmeasured – in the department. Replication in other treatment settings and assessment of SM-specific competencies are needed, especially in the field of suicide prevention, before these findings can be generalized.

Sigma overbound for aircraft landing in presence of day-to-day multipath correlation

PurposeThe purpose of this work is to obtain an overbounded broadcast sigma from actual (non-Gaussian) correction error distribution under the stringent navigation integrity requirements for aircraft precision approach and landing.Design/methodology/approachApproach is statistically to overbound satellite pseudorange correction error distribution with the use of numerical solution of Fisher-Z transformation. Inflation factors for overbounding broadcast sigma are extracted from Fisher-Z transformation based on measured correlation and counted independent identically distributed (iid) sample sizes of true empirical data.FindingsNew overbounded broadcast sigma values for eight long-pass satellites were obtained based on measured actual empirical data and ensured integrity risk at 10−8 probability level. Proposed methodology successfully overbounds ground reflection multipath-type systematic and temporal errors sources.Originality/valueThis paper introduced a new method of accounting for ground reflection multipath for local area augmentation system/ground-based augmentation system navigation integrity. The method is also applicable to statistically overbound any other serially correlated temporal variation in measured data if both correlation values and finite iid sample sizes are known.

Three Generations of Intergenerational Transmission of Neighbourhood Context

The literature on intergenerational contextual mobility has shown that neighbourhood status is partly inherited from parents to children where children who spend their childhood in deprived neighbourhoods are more likely to live in such neighbourhoods also as adults. It has been suggested that such transmission of neighbourhood status also is relevant from multiple generation approach. To our knowledge, however, this has only been confirmed by simulations and not empirical research. This study uses actual empirical data covering 25 years and the full Swedish population to investigate intergenerational similarities in neighbourhood status of three generations of Swedish women. Findings suggest that the neighbourhood environments of Swedish women are correlated with the neighbourhood statuses of their mothers and, to some extent, grandmothers. We also find an effect of distance where intergenerational transmission is stronger for those remaining close. Whereas women whose mothers and grandmothers live in high-income areas benefit from staying close, women whose mothers and grandmothers live in low-income areas do better if they live further away. These results are robust over two different analytical strategies – comparing neighbourhood status of the three generations at similar ages and at the same point in time – and two different spatial scales. We argue that the finding of such effects in (relatively egalitarian) Sweden implies that similar, and possibly stronger, patterns are likely to exist in other countries as well.

Songs of the Factory: Pop Music, Culture, and Resistance by Marek Korczynski (review)

Songs of the Factory: Pop Culture, and Resistance. By Marek Korczynski. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2014. [x, 223 p. ISBN 9780801451546 (hardcover), $75; ISBN 9780801479977 (paperback), $24.95.] Illustrations, appendix, bibliography, index. [Workers'] desire to be back at work did not reflect joy in the work but rather an intuited sense that their culture, which they so valued, was rooted in the process of (p. 86). A simple statement out of context, but Marek Korczynski thoroughly demonstrates how rich a claim it is. Scholars and students in both music and labor studies will find this volume a welcome contribution. Korczynski's work stands in stark contrast with the dated yet persistent demonization of popular music heard on the radio. This demonization often reinforces divisions between high and low, urban and rural, historical and contemporary, or between corporate manufactured pseudo-individualistic music versus traditional music of an authentic folk or rebellious working class. Such views can be traced throughout scholarship on popular music, finding its most acerbic and devastating expression in Adorno's On Popular (Theodor Adorno, On Popular Music, Studies in Philosophy and Social Science 9 [January 1941]: 17-48). Usually, such work lacks actual empirical data on how people use popular music. Korczynski's Songs of the Factory provides a much needed complication of such views. Through detailed ethnographic research, the author demonstrates how workers in the most tedious of workplaces used music, movement, humor, and friendship to enrich their daily grind. The setting was McTells, a blinds factory in England where shift workers filled sporadic custom orders. Workers were given hourly quotas, and managers had to ensure these quotas were met. McTells, Korczynski argues, was a Taylorized workplace in which workers focus on small repetitive jobs executed over and over again. Though workers constructed blinds via a fairly rigid routine, the sporadic placement of orders created an unpredictable pace of general labor. Two areas of tension emerged in this setting: that between the workers and their monotonous labor and that between workers and managers. Alienation, that familiar specter of Taylorism, thus shaped the working lives of the individuals in Korczynski's study. Employing music, humor, movement, and acts of resistance, workers participated in a Stayin' Alive culture meant to keep alienation at bay. Korczynski's use of the 1977 Bee Gees hit to theorize workers' responses to alienation foregrounds music as part of a culture of happiness found on the shop-room floor (p. 32). By worked Korczynski means that laborers themselves created the Stayin' Alive culture in daily response to the nature of their working lives. heard from radios throughout the factory, was their principal tool in this construction. Over the course of five chapters, Korczynski explores workers' relationships with music. Musical content oscillated between older and more contemporaneous pop and rock hits. Korczynski draws on Thomas Turino and Christopher Small to demonstrate how workers, especially specific cultural instigators, created participatory fields of musicking to build a sense of community among themselves (Thomas Turino, Music as Social Life [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008]; Christopher Small, Musicking [Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1998]). Managers never participated in this musicking, and were vocal in their opposition to it. Music in this setting served primarily to help workers feel human. Pop songs created spaces for witty banter, dancing, and communal singing. With music, the routinized gestures of blind construction could become an opportunity for improvised dance-like movements. Korczynski uses two films, Charlie Chaplin's Working Times and Saturday Night Fever, to contrast how workers incorporated music to make the monotonous gestures of blind construction into fun dances (Modern Times, dir. …

Modeling non-compensatory preferences in environmental valuation

While the compensatory model of choice dominates the environmental valuation literature, non-compensatory models, where individuals do not tradeoff one attribute for another, are sometimes found to be better representations of choice behavior. Most non-compensatory models employ “cutoffs”, the point at which utility abruptly changes. But cutoffs are usually elicited directly from respondents using a stated preference question. Such elicitation could be inaccurate and might introduce bias to the decision process. In this article, we develop a model that estimates cutoff levels endogenously. Our model has two error components, one for the utility function and another for the cutoff function. This facilitates the estimation of the cutoff as a function of individual specific variables. We estimate the model by maximizing the log-likelihood function that involves the weighted sum of the two error components. We test the model using synthetic data and find that estimated parameters are close to the true parameters. When applied to actual empirical data, our model appears to be a better fit than the compensatory preference model; however it is somewhat different than the self-reported cutoff model, highlighting the need for an approach that does not rely on stated cutoff information.

Do disability grants influence adherence to antiretroviral therapy?

Anecdotal data suggest that some South Africans living with HIV who receive disability grants from the state deliberately default on their antiretroviral medication in an attempt to lower their CD4 count to remain eligible for grants. No actual empirical data however exist to show that disability grants act as such perverse incentives and are a valid reason for non-adherence. This article examines some of the complexities of antiretroviral adherence in the context of a resource-constrained environment. The multitude of structural barriers, including sometimes difficult patient-doctor conversations about the renewal of disability grants, shape patients’ experiences of the clinic environment and influence their adherence to care.