COHABITATION: SHARPENING A FUZZY CONCEPT

This paper uses Fragile Families data to examine (1) the degree of correspondence between measures of cohabitation, (2) the prevalence of ‘part-time’ cohabitation, and (3) the extent to which the characteristics associated with cohabiting relationship are sensitive to how part-time cohabitation is classified. The results show cohabitation is a continuous rather than a dichotomous variable. At both ends of the continuum, there is substantial agreement across measures about who is (not) cohabiting. In the middle of the continuum, however, there is considerable ambiguity, with as much as 15% of couples reporting part-time cohabitation. How we classify this group will affect estimates of the prevalence of cohabitation, especially among African Americans, and may impact the characteristics and outcomes of cohabitors.

Handbuch Katholische Schule. Im Auftrag des Arbeitskreises katholischer Schulen in freier Trägerschaft in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland herausgegeben von Rainer Ilgner. 6 Bände. Köln: Bachem 1992-1994. […] [Sammelrezension]

Sammelrezension von: Handbuch Katholische Schule. Im Auftrag des Arbeitskreises katholischer Schulen in freier Trägerschaft in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland herausgegeben von Rainer Ilgner. 6 Bände. Köln: Bachem 1992-1994. Zus. 2954 S. 1. Bd. 1: Rainer Ilgner (Hrsg.): Dokumente. 1994. 212 S. 2. Bd. 2: Pädagogische Beiträge, 24 Hefte, 1992. 956 S. 3. Bd. 3: Zur Geschichte des katholischen Schulwesens, bearbeitet von Christoph Kron-Abel mit einer Einleitung von Karl Erlinghagen. 1992, 363 S. 4. Bd. 4: Kirchliches Schulrecht. Textsammlung mit einer Einleitung von Manfred Baldus. 1992. 922 S. 5. Bd. 5: Verzeichnis der katholischen Schulen, Internate und Schülerheime in freier Trägerschaft in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. 1992. 258 S. 6. Bd. 6: Joachim Dikow: Bibliographie katholische Schulen und Internate 1962 bis 1992. 1992. 243 S

Sibylle Beetz: Hoffnungsträger „Autonome Schule". Zur Struktur der pädagogischen Wünschdebatte um die Befreiung der Bildungsinstitutionen. (Beiträge zur empirischen Erziehungswissenschaft und Fachdidaktik. Bd. 10.) Frankfurt a.M./Bern: Lang 1997. [...] [Sammelrezension]

Sammelrezension von: 1. Sibylle Beetz: Hoffnungsträger „Autonome Schule". Zur Struktur der pädagogischen Wünschdebatte um die Befreiung der Bildungsinstitutionen. (Beiträge zur empirischen Erziehungswissenschaft und Fachdidaktik. Bd. 10.) Frankfurt a.M./Bern: Lang 1997, 447 S. 2. Harm Paschen/Lothar Wigger (Hrsg.): Schulautonomie als Entscheidungsproblem. Zur Abwägung heterogener Argumente. Weinheim: Deutscher Studien Verlag 1996, 192 S. 3. Harald Gampe: Kooperation zwischen Schulaufsicht und Schule. Untersuchungen zur pädagogischen und rechtlichen Schulratsfunktion. Neuwied: Luchterhand 1994, 247 S. 4. Michael Schratz: Die Rolle der Schulaufsicht in der autonomen Schulentwicklung. Eine Untersuchung über Selbstbild, Rollenerklärung und Fortbildungsbedarf im Hinblick auf die Autonomisierung des österreichischen Schulwesens. Überarbeitete Fassung. (Bildungsforschung des Bundesministeriums für Unterricht und kulturelle Angelegenheiten. Bd. 10.) Innsbruck/Wien: Studien Verlag 1998, 234 S. 5. Heike Ackermann/Jochen Wissinger (Hrsg): Schulqualität managen. Von der Verwaltung der Schule zur Entwicklung von Schulqualität. Neuwied: Luchterhand 1998. 280 S

On predictors for band-limited and high-frequency time series

Pathwise predictability and predictors for discrete time processes are studied in deterministic setting. It is suggested to approximate convolution sums over future times by convolution sums over past time. It is shown that all band-limited processes are predictable in this sense, as well as high-frequency processes with zero energy at low frequencies. In addition, a process of mixed type still can be predicted if an ideal low-pass filter exists for this process.Comment: 10 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:0708.034

Economic Trajectories in Non-Traditional Families with Children

Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study this paper examines associations between family structure and economic trajectories during the first five years after a child’s birth, paying special attention to non-traditional families. Among families with stable structures, married-parent families have the highest economic wellbeing, followed by cohabiting-parent families and then single mothers. Among unstable families, exits from marriage and cohabitation are associated with declines in mothers’ economic wellbeing. Entering coresidential unions after a non-marital birth is associated with gains in single mothers’ economic wellbeing, especially if those unions involve the child’s biological father. Findings are robust across several measures of economic wellbeing including household income, income-to-needs ratios, and material hardship.family structure, divorce, cohabitation, income, Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), growth curve analysis

Smart Grid: The Central Nervous System for Power Supply : New Paradigms, New Challenges, New Services

Im Energiesystem der Zukunft wird ein intelligentes Netz (Smart Grid) Angebot und Nachfrage effizient steuern. Dieser Artikel beschreibt (1) die Trends und Herausforderungen heutiger Ener-giesysteme, die die Entwicklung eines Smart Grid auslösen, identifiziert (2) Elemente eines Smart Grid und stellt (3) die mögliche Rolle eines Telekommunkationsunternehmes im entste-henden Smart Grid Markt dar. Der Trend zu einem steigenden Anteil erneuerbarer und dezentraler Energieerzeugungsanlagen bringt zwei große Herausforderungen mit sich: Eine mangelnde Vorhersagbarkeit und eine man-gelnde Regelbarkeit der Erzeugungsleistung. In diesem Artikel werden vier Elemente eines Smart Grid vorgestellt, die diese Herausforderungen adressieren: Virtuelle Kraftwerke, Demand Side Management, Lastflussregelung und Energiespeicherung. Abschließend wird herausgestellt, dass die Elemente systemisch integiert werden müssen um den eigentlichen Wert des Smart Grid zu heben. Es wird erörtert, dass sich Telekommunkiationsan-bieter in einer guten Ausgangsposition befinden um die Herausforderungen dieser Integration zu adressieren, da sie über wesentliche Erfahrungen und Fähigkeiten verfügen: Umfassendes Ver-ständnis großer IP-Netzwerke, Erfahrungen mit Cloud Computing, umfangreiches Wissen zu Service-Plattformen und Kooperationserfahrung. Online-Version im Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin (www.univerlag.tu-berlin.de) erschienen.In future power systems, a smart grid is expected to manage supply and demand of electricity efficiently. This article explores (1) the trends and challenges of today’s power system that trig-ger the development of smart grids, (2) the elements that may eventually constitute the smart grid and (3) the role a telcommunication provider may adopt in the emerging smart grid market. The trend towards an increasing share of renewable and distributed energy sources bears two major challenges: A lack of predictability and a lack of controllability of power generation. This article introduces four elements of a smart grid which address these challenges: virtual power plants, demand side management, control of power flow and storage and buffering. Finally, it is pointed out that in order to enhance the smart grid’s actual value, the elements have to be systemically integrated. It is argued that telecommunication providers are well positioned to adress the integration challenges as they have crucial experiences and capabilities: profound understanding of large IP networks, experiences in cloud computing, extensive service platform know-how and cooperation experience. Online-Version published by Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin (www.univerlag.tu-berlin.de

The Effects of Welfare and Child Support Policies on the Timing and Incidence of Marriage Following a Nonmarital Birth

Researchers and policy makers have long been concerned that government policies may influence individual behavior in unintended ways. In particular, they worry that by providing mothers with an income that is independent of marriage, welfare and child support policies may discourage marriage and increase union dissolution. Economic theory is clear with respect to the marriage disincentives of welfare for single mothers (Becker 1981), but it is ambiguous with respect to child support. Whereas stronger enforcement reduces the costs of single motherhood for women, making marriage less attractive, it increases the costs for fathers, making marriage more attractive. Which effect dominates is an empirical question. Although empirical studies vary with respect to effect size and methods, the evidence compiled during the 1980s and early 1990s indicates that welfare generosity during this period had a small negative effect on marriage among mothers (Moffitt 1998) whereas strong child support enforcement reduced single motherhood by reducing nonmarital childbearing.

Model-based clustering with Hidden Markov Models and its application to financial times-series data

We have developed a method to partition a set of data into clusters by use of Hidden Markov Models. Given a number of clusters, each of which is represented by one Hidden Markov Model, an iterative procedure finds the combination of cluster models and an assignment of data points to cluster models which maximizes the joint likelihood of the clustering. To reflect the non-Markovian nature of some aspects of the data we also extend classical Hidden Markov Models to employ a non-homogeneous Markov chain, where the non-homogeneity is dependent not on the time of the observation but rather on a quantity derived from previous observations. We present the method, a proof of convergence for the training procedure and an evaluation of the method on simulated time-series data as well as on large data sets of financial time-series from the Public Saving and Loan Banks in Germany

A Tool for Visual Understanding of Source Code Dependencies

Many program comprehension tools use graphs to visualize and analyze source code. The main issue is that existing approaches create graphs overloaded with too much information. Graphs contain hundreds of nodes and even more edges that cross each other. Understanding these graphs and using them for a given program comprehension task is tedious, and in the worst case developers stop using the tools. In this paper we present DA4Java, a graphbased approach for visualizing and analyzing static dependencies between Java source code entities. The main contribution of DA4Java is a set of features to incrementally compose graphs and remove irrelevant nodes and edges from graphs. This leads to graphs that contain significantly fewer nodes and edges and need less effort to understand

Model-based clustering with Hidden Markov Models and its application to financial times series data

We have developed a method to partition a set of data into clusters by use of Hidden Markov Models. Given a number of clusters, each of which is represented by one Hidden Markov Model, an iterative procedure finds the combination of cluster models and an assignment of data points to cluster models which maximizes the joint likelihood of the clustering. To reflect the non-Markovian nature of some aspects of the data we also extend classical Hidden Markov Models to employ a non-homogeneous Markov chain, where the non-homogeneity is dependent not on the time of the observation but rather on a quantity derived from previous observations. We present the method, a proof of convergence for the training procedure and an evaluation of the method on simulated time-series data as well as on large data sets of financial time-series from the Public Saving and Loan Banks in Germany