Revealed Comparative Advantage and Specialization in Athletics

Using entries in the 2005 IAAF rankings as a measure of a country’s success in athletics, we analyse intercountry differences in athletic specialisation (measured through an index for revealed symmetric comparative advantage). A Tobit II model identifies macro-economic, sociological and political conditions that shape patterns of specialisation. We observe geographical patterns: African and Carribean (and to a lesser extent Asian) countries have a ‘typical’ pattern of specialisation. Highly populated as well as richer countries diversify more. Larger countries specialise in sprinting and middle distance running while leading to comparative disadvantages in non-running events. Finally, (former) socialist countries have a significant revealed comparative advantage in non-running events and a disadvantage in sprinting.athletics, revealed comparative advantage, specialisation

Wir bleiben Kanzlerin — We are Pregnant? : On grammatical, semantic and pragmatic usages of the "we" pronoun

This paper convenes and discusses insights from different linguistic paradigms on the study of the first person plural pronouns we and wir. It questions the grammatical and semantic regularities as it addresses deviating structures and meanings. It further draws on cross-linguistic variation on the topic for a deeper understanding of grammatical and semantic peculiarities of the first person plural pronoun in English and German

GAPP: A Fast Profiler for Detecting Serialization Bottlenecks in Parallel Linux Applications

We present a parallel profiling tool, GAPP, that identifies serialization bottlenecks in parallel Linux applications arising from load imbalance or contention for shared resources . It works by tracing kernel context switch events using kernel probes managed by the extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF) framework. The overhead is thus extremely low (an average 4% run time overhead for the applications explored), the tool requires no program instrumentation and works for a variety of serialization bottlenecks. We evaluate GAPP using the Parsec3.0 benchmark suite and two large open-source projects: MySQL and Nektar++ (a spectral/hp element framework). We show that GAPP is able to reveal a wide range of bottleneck-related performance issues, for example arising from synchronization primitives, busy-wait loops, memory operations, thread imbalance and resource contention.Comment: 8 page

The Art of Applied Sociology Constructing an Applied Paradigm

Applied Sociology requires a different paradigm than traditional scientific sociology. A framework for doing applied sociology can be formulated from a synthesis of available sociological traditions. Science is simply an agreement of people who have studied a given body of knowledge. The question becomes: where do we stake our agreement? Synergy provides the ideal core agreement for an applied sociology. Synergy is an operational definition of the Good and should become our evaluative mechanism. It is a win-win situation, between individuals, and between the person and the community. We need to re-discover the vision of sociology as social action designed to make a better society. We must function as artists inventing effective social forms and social arrangements where people flourish

From isolation to collaboration: a new perspective on school leadership

Challenging times demand a greater urgency than usual. Quite unexpectedly, No Child Left Behind has unleashed a powerful catalyst for change in the 21st century. It is within this era of increasing accountability and disparity that greater demands are being placed on school leaders to produce significant and positive student outcomes. The constantly changing educational landscape of today\u27s schools along with the local, state and national legislation that mandates guidelines from which schools must conform necessitates a change in how school leaders are prepared. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to focus on a new perspective of school leadership that will transform the next generation of schools to ensure all students learn. Specifically, the research questions that guide this study are: (a) What skills and knowledge are needed for effective school leader [principal] training, in the 21st century both before and after school leaders are hired, to prepare and ensure they meet the demands of the job; (b) What is the perception of the school leader on the extent to which their training prepared them to support student learning; and (c) What components of the curriculum in graduate schools of education, if any, do effective leaders find most valuable for successful school leadership? Which components do they find most valuable? The main evidentiary material was elicited through a Survey Questionnaire which was distributed among 92 Principals currently assigned at Pre-K through Adult Schools. A recurring theme throughout the findings was the value of Practice. Findings show that approximately 50% of participants strongly agree that the content of leadership preparation programs emphasized Theory and Practice although the most valuable component was Practice (61%), while Theory alone was rated only somewhat valuable by 57% of Participants. The school leader\u27s perception of how well the training program supported student learning was rated highest in collaborative environment (74%) and the use of data (66%). Twenty-first century schools call for revolutionary school leaders who unselfishly share the baton in empowering and transforming others to action. The development of meaningful relationships must take precedence over the traditional role of school leaders as the Lone Ranger

An Exploration of Nursing Home Social Workers\u27 Training and Support Networks in the Area of Death and Grief

This exploratory study was formulated for the purpose of collecting data to define and substantiate the phenomenon of Grieve out, coined by Dick Obershaw of Burnsville, Minnesota. Grieve out will be defined as ...emotional investment...staff invests and never divest of the relationship upon the death of the resident. The definition of burnout will be discussed as it is not dissimilar to grieve out. This thesis is based on Doka\u27s theories of disenfranchised grief. Bowlby\u27s attachment and loss theory, and Vachon\u27s occupational stress theory. It is based on these theorists that this work will focus on boundaries. supportive networks, and specific internal and external factors that may contribute to grieve out. The latter term is distinct and the data was collected from rural and metropolitan social workers in Minnesota. There was at least a fifty percent response rate to this survey for either rural or metropolitan respondents. Data revealed respondents were not required to have knowledge of grief or death issues as a condition for their employment. In addition they did not receive regular professional supervision yet they were expected to assist with the grief process of fellow staff members. Respondents reflected a high affinity for furthering their knowledge base by continued educational forums and expressing a desire for increased information in this area

Punishment as an Inclusionary Practice: Sentencing in a Liberal Constitutional State

This chapter puts forward a conceptualisation of the sentencing judgment as setting the terms of future relationship with an offender. By drawing on the writings of Johann Gottlieb Fichte, the author develops a reintegrative conception of state punishment and argues that a constitutionally legitimate proportionality assessment must be ‘bifocal’ – focused not just on the seriousness of the offending behaviour but also on the question what undergoing the punishment will mean for and do to the offender. The chapter is included in an edited collection on Criminal Law and the Authority of the State (edited by Antje du Bois-Pedain, Magnus Ulväng and Petter Asp; Hart/Bloomsbury, 2017)

Hegel and the Justification of Real-world Penal Sanctions

This article revisits Hegel’s writings on punishment to reconstruct from them a justification for the imposition of real-world penal sanctions. Tracing Hegel’s argumentative path from a bare retributive principle to his mature justification of state punishment, it argues that Hegel offers us convincing reasons for endorsing, in broad shape, the distinctive penal institutions and practices of a modern nation-state. Hegel is also right to stress that punishment is – not merely conceptually, but also in the reality of our social world – a recognition of an offender’s status as a bearer of rights and participant in a system of mutual recognition that allows us to collectively build and maintain an order of freedom. This understanding of punishment sets significant limits to punishment’s permissible forms, particularly – but not only – with regard to the death penalty. By focusing on what it means to honour an offender through punishment and by drawing attention to what legal punishment has in common with reactions to transgressions by the will more generally, I question whether the infliction of penal suffering can, as such, be a legitimate aim of penal agents. In conclusion, I argue that only a commitment to penal minimalism, developable from Hegel’s thought, can give those subjected to real-world penal sanctions a complete answer to the question why they should accept their punishment as justified.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Cambridge University Press via http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cjlj.2016.2

Violent dynamics: Exploring responsibility-attribution for harms inflicted during spontaneous group violence

Violent encounters between groups of individuals often leave one or more of the participants dead, and it may be clear from the evidence that the physical cause of death was set by the single, deliberate act of one of the participants only. When this happens, the question arises whether, and how, responsibility for the fatal act and/or for its consequences can be attributed to other participants in the punch-up. Criminal law has long sought – and found – ways of holding others apart from the direct agent responsible for the harms caused in such encounters, although the legal constructions used differ between legal systems and often change significantly over time even within the same jurisdiction. This paper investigates the appropriateness of different criminal-law responses to these cases from two directions: first, by exploring the possible doctrinal grounds within the criminal law for attributing responsibility for the fatal act/outcome to all participants; and then by investigating the extent to which these responsibility-ascriptions are supported or challenged by insights from psychological studies of group action.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Instituto Internacional de Sociología Jurídica de Oñati via https://ssrn.com/abstract=287578