Well-being and working from home during COVID-19

in Information Technology and People (in press)

Purpose – The authors track the well-being of individuals across five European countries during the course of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and relate their well-being to working from ... [more ▼]

Purpose – The authors track the well-being of individuals across five European countries during the course of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and relate their well-being to working from home. The authors also consider the role of pandemic-policy stringency in affecting well-being in Europe. Design/methodology/approach – The authors have four waves of novel harmonised longitudinal data in France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Sweden, covering the period May–November 2020. Well-being is measured in five dimensions: life satisfaction, a worthwhile life, loneliness, depression and anxiety. A retrospective diary indicates whether the individual was working in each month since February 2020 and if so whether at home or not at home. Policy stringency is matched in per country at the daily level. The authors consider both cross- section and panel regressions and the mediating and moderating effects of control variables, including household variables and income. Findings – Well-being among workers is lower for those who work from home, and those who are not working have the lowest well-being of all. The panel results are more mitigated, with switching into working at home yielding a small drop in anxiety. The panel and cross-section difference could reflect adaptation or the selection of certain types of individuals into working at home. Policy stringency is always negatively correlated with well-being. The authors find no mediation effects. The well-being penalty from working at home is larger for the older, the better-educated, those with young children and those with more crowded housing. Originality/value – The harmonised cross-country panel data on individuals’ experiences during COVID-19 are novel. The authors relate working from home and policy stringency to multiple well-being measures. The authors emphasise the effect of working from home on not only the level of well-being but also its distribution. [less ▲]

Modeling Data Protection and Privacy: Application and Experience with GDPR

in Software and Systems Modeling (in press)

In Europe and indeed worldwide, the Gen- eral Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides pro- tection to individuals regarding their personal data in the face of new technological developments. GDPR is ... [more ▼]

In Europe and indeed worldwide, the Gen- eral Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides pro- tection to individuals regarding their personal data in the face of new technological developments. GDPR is widely viewed as the benchmark for data protection and privacy regulations that harmonizes data privacy laws across Europe. Although the GDPR is highly ben- e cial to individuals, it presents signi cant challenges for organizations monitoring or storing personal infor- mation. Since there is currently no automated solution with broad industrial applicability, organizations have no choice but to carry out expensive manual audits to ensure GDPR compliance. In this paper, we present a complete GDPR UML model as a rst step towards de- signing automated methods for checking GDPR compli- ance. Given that the practical application of the GDPR is infuenced by national laws of the EU Member States,we suggest a two-tiered description of the GDPR, generic and specialized. In this paper, we provide (1) the GDPR conceptual model we developed with complete trace- ability from its classes to the GDPR, (2) a glossary to help understand the model, (3) the plain-English de- scription of 35 compliance rules derived from GDPR along with their encoding in OCL, and (4) the set of 20 variations points derived from GDPR to specialize the generic model. We further present the challenges we faced in our modeling endeavor, the lessons we learned from it, and future directions for research. [less ▲]

The Role of Teachers in Students’ Social Inclusion in the Classroom

in Frontiers in Education (in press)

Luxembourgish

in Dialectologia (in press)

This chapter presents the dialect classifications for Luxembourgish. The first dialectological studies regarded the Luxembourgish dialect(s) as embedded into a larger 'German' spectrum of varieties, but ... [more ▼]

This chapter presents the dialect classifications for Luxembourgish. The first dialectological studies regarded the Luxembourgish dialect(s) as embedded into a larger 'German' spectrum of varieties, but from the 1960s onwards the state border in the east with Germany was conceptualized more and more also as a linguistic border. The first classification of Luxembourgish by Hardt (1848), with four dialect groups, was rather impressionistic. The classifications from the 20th century are based on survey data. The first two are in the framework of spatial dialectology, the third one is a dialectometric study. Bach (1933) did not present subdivisions, but on the basis of the isogloss maps at least three groups show up. Bruch (1954) identified four dialect regions. Schiltz’s (1997) quantitative analysis merges two of these regions. There are no classifications in the field of perceptual dialectology. Luxembourgish abstract Dëst Kapitel beschreift d’ Dialektklassifikatioune vum Lëtzebuergeschen. An den éischten dialektologesche Studie gouf Lëtzebuergesch am Allgemengen esou wéi seng Dialekter als Varietéiten ënnerhalb vum däitsche Varietéitespektrum consideréiert. Eréischt ab den 1960er Jore gëtt d'Staatsgrenz mat Däitschland net nëmmen als geografesch, mee och als linguistesch Grenz konzeptualiséiert. Dem Hardt (1948) seng éischt Klassifikatioune vum Lëtzebuergeschen, déi véier Dialektregiounen ënnerscheet, kann een éischter als impressionistesch Duerstellung gesinn. Ab dem 20th Joerhonnert baséieren d’Klassifikatiounen dann op Donnéeën, déi duerch Ëmfroen erhuewe goufen. Wärend déi éischt zwou Studien sech am Kader vun der spatialer Dialektologie beweegen, verfollegt déi drëtt (Schiltz 1997) eng dialektometresch Approche. Esou huet de Bach (1933) zwar keng Ënnerdeelunge etabléiere kënnen, mee dofir huet hie mat Isoglossen dräi Dialektgruppen an der Kaart agezeechent. Am Kontrast dozou identifizéiert de Bruch (1954) véier Regiounen. Drësseg Joer méi spéit fusionéiert de Schiltz (1997) a senger quantitativer Analyse zwou vun dëse Regiounen. Des Weideren ass am Beräich vun der perzeptueller Dialektologie nach keng Klassifizéierung virgeluecht ginn. [less ▲]

Schumpeterian entrepreneurial digital identity and funding from venture capital firms

in Journal of Technology Transfer (in press)

Schumpeterian entrepreneurs are considered agents of innovation and technology transfer. However, to fulfill this role, they need entrepreneurial finance. From the perspective of digital identity, we ... [more ▼]

Schumpeterian entrepreneurs are considered agents of innovation and technology transfer. However, to fulfill this role, they need entrepreneurial finance. From the perspective of digital identity, we examine the relationship between a Schumpeterian digital identity and venture capital (VC) funding. Because the VC industry celebrates innovative and visionary entrepreneurship, we posit that a founder’s digital identity as a Schumpeterian-type entrepreneur influences the venture’s chances of receiving VC funding. A quantitative analysis of the language used by 3313 founders in a large sample of Twitter messages, however, provides a mixed picture. While some dimensions of Schumpeterian entrepreneurship have a positive relationship with the acquisition of resources from VC firms (entrepreneurial vision and optimism), other dimensions seem to have no (uncertainty tolerance and rationality) or even a decreasing (achievement motivation) effect. The negative relationships observed can be explained by the particularities of the VC business model, which does not align with Schumpeterian entrepreneurship in all respects. Our study contributes to research on Schumpeterian entrepreneurship, the financing of technology transfer, and the link between entrepreneurial digital identity and entrepreneurial finance. From a practical perspective, the results of our study demonstrate the limits of VC with regard to the financing of technology transfer and highlight the need for public funding through governmental VC or agencies for (disruptive) innovation. [less ▲]

Gender, Loneliness and Happiness during COVID-19

in Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (in press)

We analyse a measure of loneliness from a representative sample of German individuals interviewed in both 2017 and at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Both men and women felt lonelier ... [more ▼]

We analyse a measure of loneliness from a representative sample of German individuals interviewed in both 2017 and at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Both men and women felt lonelier during the COVID-19 pandemic than they did in 2017. The pandemic more than doubled the gender loneliness gap: women were lonelier than men in 2017, and the 2017-2020 rise in loneliness was far larger for women. This rise is mirrored in life-satisfaction scores. Men’s life satisfaction changed only little between 2017 and 2020; yet that of women fell dramatically, and sufficiently so to produce a female penalty in life satisfaction. We estimate that almost all of this female penalty is explained by the disproportionate rise in loneliness for women during the COVID-19 pandemic. [less ▲]

Societal Emotional Environments and Cross-Cultural Differences in Life Satisfaction: A Forty-Nine Country Study

in Journal of Positive Psychology (in press)

In this paper, we introduce the concept of ‘societal emotional environment’: the emotional climate of a society (operationalized as the degree to which positive and negative emotions are expressed in a ... [more ▼]

In this paper, we introduce the concept of ‘societal emotional environment’: the emotional climate of a society (operationalized as the degree to which positive and negative emotions are expressed in a society). Using data collected from 12,888 participants across 49 countries, we show how societal emotional environments vary across countries and cultural clusters, and we consider the potential importance of these differences for well-being. Multilevel analyses supported a ‘double-edged sword’ model of negative emotion expression, where expression of negative emotions predicted higher life satisfaction for the expresser but lower life satisfaction for society. In contrast, partial support was found for higher societal life satisfaction in positive societal emotional environments. Our study highlights the potential utility and importance of distinguishing between positive and negative emotion expression, and adopting both individual and societal perspectives in well-being research. Individual pathways to happiness may not necessarily promote the happiness of others. [less ▲]

Sorcellerie féminine et magie masculine. Construction des genres dans Terremer d’Ursula K. Le Guin

in Epistémocritique (in press)

Religious Affiliation and Attitudes Towards Gay Men: On the Mediating Role of Masculinity Threat

in Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology (in press)

Gender and Food. From Unequitable Kitchen Tasks and Dietary Consumption to Sustainable Political Reinterpretations

in To be confirmed (in press)

Financial performance and safety in the aviation industry

in International Journal of Managerial Finance (in press)

This paper investigates whether financial factors, which are presumed to influence an airline's maintenance, purchasing, and training policies, are associated with the air carrier's safety performance.

Pension Insecurity and Wellbeing in Europe

in Journal of Social Policy (in press)

This paper studies pension insecurity in a sample of non-retired individuals aged 50 years or older from 18 European countries. We capture pension insecurity with the subjective expectations on the ... [more ▼]

This paper studies pension insecurity in a sample of non-retired individuals aged 50 years or older from 18 European countries. We capture pension insecurity with the subjective expectations on the probability that the government will reduce the pensions of the individual before retirement or will increase the statutory retirement age. We argue that changes in economic conditions and policy affect the formation of such probabilities, and through this, subjective wellbeing. In particular, we study the effects of pension insecurity on subjective wellbeing with pooled linear models, regressions per quintiles and instrumental variables. We find a statistically significant, stable and negative association between pension insecurity and subjective wellbeing. Our findings reveal that the individuals who are more affected by pension insecurity are those who are further away fromtheir retirement, have lower income, assess their life survival as low, have higher cognitive abilities and do not expect private pension payments. [less ▲]

Are Family Firms Doing More Innovation Output With Less Innovation Input? A Replication and Extension

in Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice (in press)

Short-Packet Communications in Multi-Hop Networks with WET: Performance Analysis and Deep Learning-Aided Optimization

in IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications (in press)

En mots et en images : le corps à l’œuvre chez Annie Ernaux

in Sens Public (in press)

The Rise of the Unified Patent Court. A Turn of Eras for European Patent Enforcement

in IIC: International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law (in press)

Editorial

The role of score and information bias in panel data likelihoods

in Journal of Econometrics (in press)

Asymptotic Analysis of Max-Min Weighted SINR for IRS-Assisted MISO Systems with Hardware Impairments

in IEEE Wireless Communications Letters (in press)

We focus on the realistic maximization of the up-link minimum-signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) of a general multiple-input-single-output (MISO) system assisted by an intelligent reflecting ... [more ▼]

We focus on the realistic maximization of the up-link minimum-signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) of a general multiple-input-single-output (MISO) system assisted by an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) in the large system limit accounting for HIs. In particular, we introduce the HIs at both the IRS (IRS-HIs) and the transceiver HIs (AT-HIs), usually neglected despite their inevitable impact. Specifically, the deterministic equivalent analysis enables the derivation of the asymptotic weighted maximum-minimum SINR with HIs by jointly optimizing the HIs-aware receiver, the transmit power, and the reflect beamforming matrix (RBM). Notably, we obtain the optimal power allocation and reflect beamforming matrix with low overhead instead of their frequent necessary computation in conventional MIMO systems based on the instantaneous channel information. Monte Carlo simulations verify the analytical results which show the insightful interplay among the key parameters and the degradation of the performance due to HIs. [less ▲]

Toward an understanding of the implementation of management innovation in international joint ventures: A multilevel perspective

in European Management Review (in press)

Implementing management innovation (MI) is a great challenge for international joint ventures (IJVs), specifically for those between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and local firms. Different multilevel ... [more ▼]

Implementing management innovation (MI) is a great challenge for international joint ventures (IJVs), specifically for those between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and local firms. Different multilevel factors have been shown in the international business literature to play a role in MI implementation within IJVs. In this paper, we add to this literature by showing that these factors do not act in isolation and that their interplay must be considered. To this aim, we draw on qualitative data from 35 CEOs and TMT members of five IJVs between European MNEs and Tunisian local firms. Overall, our study reveals that depending on the type of IJV, the multilevel factors playing a role in the implementation of MI are different [less ▲]

Event studies with daily stock returns in Stata: Which command to use?

in Stata Journal (in press)

This article provides an overview of existing community-contributed commands for executing event studies. I assess which command(s) could have been used to conduct event studies that have appeared in the ... [more ▼]

This article provides an overview of existing community-contributed commands for executing event studies. I assess which command(s) could have been used to conduct event studies that have appeared in the past ten years in three leading accounting, finance and management journals. The older command eventstudy provides a comfortable graphical user interface and good functionality for event studies that do not require hypotheses testing. The command estudy described in Pacicco et al. (2018, Stata Journal 18(2), pp. 416–476; 2020, Stata Journal, forthcoming) provides a set of commonly applied test statistics, useful exporting routines to spreadsheet software and LATEX for event studies with a limited number of events. The most complete command in terms of available test statistics and benchmark models as well as its ability to handle events with insufficient data, thin trading and large samples is eventstudy2 [less ▲]

Invariant density adaptive estimation for ergodic jump diffusion processes over anisotropic classes

in Journal of Statistical Planning and Inference (in press)

We consider the solution of a multivariate stochastic differential equation with Levy-type jumps and with unique invariant probability measure with density μ. We assume that a continuous record of ... [more ▼]

We consider the solution of a multivariate stochastic differential equation with Levy-type jumps and with unique invariant probability measure with density μ. We assume that a continuous record of observations is available. In the case without jumps, Reiss and Dalalyan [7] and Strauch [24] have found convergence rates of invariant density estimators, under respectively isotropic and anisotropic H ̈older smoothness constraints, which are considerably faster than those known from standard multivariate density estimation. We extend the previous works by obtaining, in presence of jumps, some estimators which have the same convergence rates they had in the case without jumps for d ≥ 2 and a rate which depends on the degree of the jumps in the one-dimensional setting. We propose moreover a data driven bandwidth selection procedure based on the Goldenshluger and Lepski method [11] which leads us to an adaptive non-parametric kernel estimator of the stationary density μ of the jump diffusion X. [less ▲]

Data-driven Mutation Analysis for Cyber-Physical Systems

in IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering (in press)

Cyber-physical systems (CPSs) typically consist of a wide set of integrated, heterogeneous components; consequently, most of their critical failures relate to the interoperability of such components ... [more ▼]

Cyber-physical systems (CPSs) typically consist of a wide set of integrated, heterogeneous components; consequently, most of their critical failures relate to the interoperability of such components. Unfortunately, most CPS test automation techniques are preliminary and industry still heavily relies on manual testing. With potentially incomplete, manually-generated test suites, it is of paramount importance to assess their quality. Though mutation analysis has demonstrated to be an effective means to assess test suite quality in some specific contexts, we lack approaches for CPSs. Indeed, existing approaches do not target interoperability problems and cannot be executed in the presence of black-box or simulated components, a typical situation with CPSs. In this paper, we introduce data-driven mutation analysis, an approach that consists in assessing test suite quality by verifying if it detects interoperability faults simulated by mutating the data exchanged by software components. To this end, we describe a data-driven mutation analysis technique (DaMAT) that automatically alters the data exchanged through data buffers. Our technique is driven by fault models in tabular form where engineers specify how to mutate data items by selecting and configuring a set of mutation operators. We have evaluated DaMAT with CPSs in the space domain; specifically, the test suites for the software systems of a microsatellite and nanosatellites launched on orbit last year. Our results show that the approach effectively detects test suite shortcomings, is not affected by equivalent and redundant mutants, and entails acceptable costs. [less ▲]

Clinical relevance of attentional biases in pediatric chronic pain: an eye-tracking study

in Pain (in press)

Attentional biases have been posited as one of the key mechanisms underlying the development and maintenance of chronic pain and co-occurring internalizing mental health symptoms. Despite this theoretical ... [more ▼]

Attentional biases have been posited as one of the key mechanisms underlying the development and maintenance of chronic pain and co-occurring internalizing mental health symptoms. Despite this theoretical prominence, a comprehensive understanding of the nature of biased attentional processing in chronic pain and its relationship to theorized antecedents and clinical outcomes is lacking, particularly in youth. This study used eye-tracking to assess attentional bias for painful facial expressions and its relationship to theorized antecedents of chronic pain and clinical outcomes. Youth with chronic pain (n = 125) and without chronic pain (n = 52) viewed face images of varying levels of pain expressiveness while their eye gaze was tracked and recorded. At baseline, youth completed questionnaires to assess pain characteristics, theorized antecedents (pain catastrophizing, fear of pain, and anxiety sensitivity), and clinical outcomes (pain intensity, interference, anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress). For youth with chronic pain, clinical outcomes were reassessed at 3 months to assess for relationships with attentional bias while controlling for baseline symptoms. In both groups, youth exhibited an attentional bias for painful facial expressions. For youth with chronic pain, attentional bias was not significantly associated with theorized antecedents or clinical outcomes at baseline or 3-month follow-up. These findings call into question the posited relationships between attentional bias and clinical outcomes. Additional studies using more comprehensive and contextual paradigms for the assessment of attentional bias are required to clarify the ways in which such biases may manifest and relate to clinical outcomes. [less ▲]

Environmental and Sustainability Education in the Benelux Region

in Environmental Education Research (in press), (Special Issue),

Intelligent Blockchain-based Edge Computing via Deep Reinforcement Learning: Solutions and Challenges

in IEEE Network (in press)

The convergence of mobile edge computing (MEC) and blockchain is transforming the current computing services in wireless Internet-of-Things networks, by enabling task offloading with security enhancement ... [more ▼]

The convergence of mobile edge computing (MEC) and blockchain is transforming the current computing services in wireless Internet-of-Things networks, by enabling task offloading with security enhancement based on blockchain mining. Yet the existing approaches for these enabling technologies are isolated, providing only tailored solutions for specific services and scenarios. To fill this gap, we propose a novel cooperative task offloading and blockchain mining (TOBM) scheme for a blockchain-based MEC system, where each edge device not only handles computation tasks but also deals with block mining for improving system utility. To address the latency issues caused by the blockchain operation in MEC, we develop a new Proof-of-Reputation consensus mechanism based on a lightweight block verification strategy. To accommodate the highly dynamic environment and high-dimensional system state space, we apply a novel distributed deep reinforcement learning-based approach by using a multi-agent deep deterministic policy gradient algorithm. Experimental results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed TOBM scheme in terms of enhanced system reward, improved offloading utility with lower blockchain mining latency, and better system utility, compared to the existing cooperative and non-cooperative schemes. The paper concludes with key technical challenges and possible directions for future blockchain-based MEC research. [less ▲]

Smoking related warning messages formulated as questions positively influence short-term smoking behaviour

in Journal of Health Psychology (in press)

University competition and transnational education: the choice of branch campus

in B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics (in press)

Enlarging the frame: Issues of inclusion and mental health in an ageing society

in Journal of Mental Health Research in Intellectual Disabilities (in press)

This contribution frames the notions of inclusion and mental health by describing trends in European societies at the social and economic level that will have direct consequences for a participative civil ... [more ▼]

This contribution frames the notions of inclusion and mental health by describing trends in European societies at the social and economic level that will have direct consequences for a participative civil society and social cohesion. Starting point is the observation that the world faces challenges at the start of the 21st century that are new and unprecedented in its history. The four global forces that break all the trends known so far in human history include urbanization, accelerating technological development, greater global connections, and population ageing. The authors first describe the scale of population ageing, as ageing populations characterize several developed economies. In a second step, they highlight some consequences of population ageing for social welfare and in a third part they elaborate on the notion of justice and inclusion in rapidly changing societies. [less ▲]

Safety-aware Location Privacy in VANET: Evaluation and Comparison

in IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology (in press)

VANET safety applications broadcast cooperative awareness messages (CAM) periodically to provide vehicles with continuous updates about the surrounding traffic. The periodicity and the spatiotemporal ... [more ▼]

VANET safety applications broadcast cooperative awareness messages (CAM) periodically to provide vehicles with continuous updates about the surrounding traffic. The periodicity and the spatiotemporal information contained in these messages allow a global adversary to track vehicle movements. Many privacy schemes have been proposed for VANET, but only few schemes consider their impact on safety applications. Also, each scheme is evaluated using inconsistent metrics and unrealistic vehicle traces, which makes comparing the actual performance of different schemes in the wild more difficult. In this paper, we aim to fill this gap and compare different privacy schemes not only in terms of the privacy gained but also their impact on safety applications. A distortion-based privacy metric is initially proposed and compared with other popular privacy metrics showing its effectiveness in measuring privacy. A practical safety metric which is based on Monte Carlo analysis is then proposed to measure the QoS of two safety applications: forward collision warning and lane change warning. Using realistic vehicle traces, six state-of-the-art VANET privacy schemes are evaluated and compared in terms of the proposed privacy and safety metrics. Among the evaluated schemes, it was found that the coordinated silent period scheme achieves the best privacy and QoS levels but fully synchronized silence among all vehicles is a practical challenge. The CAPS and CADS schemes provide a practical compromise between privacy and safety since they employ only the necessary silence periods to prevent tracking and avoid changing pseudonyms in trivial situations. [less ▲]

Lettere alla redazione : il caso della “Buona Domenica” lussemburghese Un fenomeno mediatico italo-lussemburghese

in El Ghibli - Rivista di Letteratura della Migrazione (in press)

Möglichkeiten statistischer Erhebungen für politische Strategien – Eine psychologische Deutung der Naturbewusstseinsstudie 2011

in BfN-Skripten (in press)

On the comprehensibility and perceived privacy protection of indirect questioning techniques

in Behavior Research Methods (in press)

On surveys that assess sensitive personal attributes, indirect questioning aims at increasing respondents’ willingness to answer truthfully by protecting confidentiality. However, the assumption that ... [more ▼]

On surveys that assess sensitive personal attributes, indirect questioning aims at increasing respondents’ willingness to answer truthfully by protecting confidentiality. However, the assumption that subjects understand questioning procedures fully and trust them to protect their privacy is tested rarely. In a scenario-based design, we compared four indirect questioning procedures in terms of comprehensibility and perceived privacy protection. All indirect questioning techniques were found less comprehensible for respondents than a conventional direct question used for comparison. Less-educated respondents experienced more difficulties when confronted with any indirect questioning technique. Regardless of education, the Crosswise Model was found most comprehensible among the four indirect methods. Indirect questioning was perceived to increase privacy protection in comparison to a direct question. Unexpectedly, comprehension and perceived privacy protection did not correlate. We recommend assessing these factors separately in future evaluations of indirect questioning. [less ▲]

Interindividual differences in responses to global inequality

in Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy (in press)

One of humanity’s most pressing problems is the inequality between people from “developed” and “developing” countries, which counteracts joint efforts to combat other large scale problems. Little is known ... [more ▼]

One of humanity’s most pressing problems is the inequality between people from “developed” and “developing” countries, which counteracts joint efforts to combat other large scale problems. Little is known about the psychological antecedents that affect the perception of and behavioral responses to global inequality. Based on, and extending, Duckitt’s (2001) dual-process model, the current research examines psychological antecedents that may explain how people in an industrialized Western country respond to global inequality. In two studies (N1 = 116, N2 = 117), we analyzed the relationship between the Big Five and justice constructs, right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), social dominance orientation (SDO), and behavioral intentions to reduce global inequality. Two-group path analysis revealed support for the dual-process model in that RWA and SDO were important predictors of behavioral intentions and partially acted as mediators between personality and such intentions. Moreover, justice sensitivity explained variance beyond the “classic” DPM variables. In Study 2, we additionally assessed individuals’ global social identification and perceived injustice of global inequality that explained additional variance. Extending previous work on the dual-process model, these findings demonstrate that individual and group-based processes predict people’s responses to global inequality and uncover potentials to promote behavior in the interest of global justice. [less ▲]

Family income and material deprivation: do they matter for sleep quality and quantity in early life? Evidence from a longitudinal study.

in Sleep (in press)

Study Objectives: The aim of the present paper is to investigate the determinants of sleeping patterns in children up to age 9 on a large and geographically homogeneous sample of British children and ... [more ▼]

Study Objectives: The aim of the present paper is to investigate the determinants of sleeping patterns in children up to age 9 on a large and geographically homogeneous sample of British children and parents, focusing in particular on the role of economic and social factors, specifically on income. Methods: The data of this study come from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a long-term health research project that recruited over 14,000 pregnant women who were due to give birth between April 1991 and December 1992 in Bristol and its surrounding areas, including some of Somerset and Gloucestershire. Logistic regression models for the sleep problems dummies and log-linear models for the sleep quantity. Results: One additional item in the material deprivation index is associated to an increase of around 10% to 20% in the odds of having at least one sleep problem. Similarly, children from the richest families are less likely to have any sleep problem up to 115 months (around 20% reduction in the odds). Mother’s characteristics (i.e. education and mental health in the pregnancy period) are also significant predictors. Sleep quantity does not vary much and is not sensitive to socioeconomic factors. Conclusion: Exposure to income-related inequalities affects child sleep. Further research is needed in order to understand if sleep in early life influence future health and economic trajectories. [less ▲]

A Bayesian framework to identify random parameter fields based on the copula theorem and Gaussian fields: Application to polycrystalline materials

in Journal of Applied Mechanics (in press)

For many models of solids, we frequently assume that the material parameters do not vary in space, nor that they vary from one product realization to another. If the length scale of the application ... [more ▼]

For many models of solids, we frequently assume that the material parameters do not vary in space, nor that they vary from one product realization to another. If the length scale of the application approaches the length scale of the micro-structure however, spatially fluctuating parameter fi elds (which vary from one realization of the fi eld to another) can be incorporated to make the model capture the stochasticity of the underlying micro-structure. Randomly fluctuating parameter fields are often described as Gaussian fields. Gaussian fi elds however assume that the probability density function of a material parameter at a given location is a univariate Gaussian distribution. This entails for instance that negative parameter values can be realized, whereas most material parameters have physical bounds (e.g. the Young's modulus cannot be negative). In this contribution, randomly fluctuating parameter fi elds are therefore described using the copula theorem and Gaussian fi elds, which allow di fferent types of univariate marginal distributions to be incorporated, but with the same correlation structure as Gaussian fields. It is convenient to keep the Gaussian correlation structure, as it allows us to draw samples from Gaussian fi elds and transform them into the new random fields. The bene fit of this approach is that any type of univariate marginal distribution can be incorporated. If the selected univariate marginal distribution has bounds, unphysical material parameter values will never be realized. We then use Bayesian inference to identify the distribution parameters (which govern the random fi eld). Bayesian inference regards the parameters that are to be identi fied as random variables and requires a user-defi ned prior distribution of the parameters to which the observations are inferred. For the homogenized Young's modulus of a columnar polycrystalline material of interest in this study, the results show that with a relatively wide prior (i.e. a prior distribution without strong assumptions), a single specimen is su ciffient to accurately recover the distribution parameter values. [less ▲]

Relative critical loci and quiver moduli

in Annales Scientifiques de l'École Normale Supérieure (in press)

Replication studies in top management journals: an empirical investigation of prevalence, types, outcomes, and impact

in Management Review Quarterly (in press)

Replication studies are important for the empirical research process. Yet, while there is an increased awareness of the need for replication in management research, it appears that such studies are rarely ... [more ▼]

Replication studies are important for the empirical research process. Yet, while there is an increased awareness of the need for replication in management research, it appears that such studies are rarely published in leading management journals. Importantly, we lack a comprehensive overview of replication studies in the top management journals that spans all sub-disciplines. Our systematic review closes this gap and provides an overview of the prevalence, types, outcomes, and impact of replication studies in management journals. We find that differences in the prevalence of replications between sub-disciplines exist and that most replications are wide replications. With regard to the replication outcome, our review shows that the share of non-confirming replications is low. Moreover, such replications are cited less often than confirming replications pointing towards a confirmation bias in management research. We discuss the implications of our results for authors, reviewers, and editors of management journals. [less ▲]

Regional foreign banks and financial inclusion: Evidence from Africa

in Economic Modelling (in press)

Regional foreign banks expanded quickly over the past decade in developing and emerging countries and have a growing influence in banking systems. We question whether the development of African regional ... [more ▼]

Regional foreign banks expanded quickly over the past decade in developing and emerging countries and have a growing influence in banking systems. We question whether the development of African regional foreign banks, also called Pan-African banks, influences financial inclusion of firms and households. To this end, we combine the World Bank Global Findex database and the World Bank Enterprise Surveys with a hand-collected database on the presence of regional foreign banks. We find that Pan-African banks presence increases firms’ access to credit and limited evidence that they favor financial access of the middle class by restoring confidence in banks. We suggest that this impact is related to the adoption of an aggressive strategy aiming at gaining market shares rather than through the exploitation of informational and technological advantages. [less ▲]

Joint Precoding and On-Board Beamforming for Multiple gateway Multibeam Satellite Systems

in IEEE Journal on Selected topic in Communication (in press)

This paper aims to design joint precoding and onboard beamforming of a multiple gateway multibeam satellite system, either in a hybrid space-ground mode, or in a totally on-board one. In such an ... [more ▼]

This paper aims to design joint precoding and onboard beamforming of a multiple gateway multibeam satellite system, either in a hybrid space-ground mode, or in a totally on-board one. In such an architecture, with employing high throughput full frequency reuse pattern over both user and feeder links, each gateway serves a cluster of adjacent beams such that the adjacent clusters are served through a set of gateways that are located at different geographical areas. However, such a system brings in two challenges to overcome. First, the interference in both user and feeder links is the bottleneck of the whole system and applying interference mitigation techniques becomes necessary. Second, as the data demand increases, the ground and space segments should employ extensive bandwidth resources in the feeder link accordingly. This entails embedding an extra number of gateways aiming to support a fair balance between the increasing demand and the corresponding required feeder link resources. To solve these problems, this study investigates the impact of employing a joint multiple gateway architecture and on-board beamforming scheme. It is shown that by properly designing the on-board beamforming scheme, the number of gateways can be kept affordable even if the data demand increases. Moreover, Zero Forcing (ZF) precoding techniques are considered to cope with the interference in both user and feeder links which embed in the following premises: (i) each gateway constructs a part of block ZF precoding matrix, (ii) the satellite and gateways perform the precoding scheme, and (iii) a joint design of ZF precoding and on-board beamforming at the payload of the satellite so that no signal processing scheme is conceived at the gateways. The provided simulation results depict the performance gain obtained by our proposed schemes. [less ▲]

Competition Numbers, Quasi-Line Graphs and Holes

in SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics (in press)

The competition graph of an acyclic directed graph D is the undirected graph on the same vertex set as D in which two distinct vertices are adjacent if they have a common out-neighbor in D. The ... [more ▼]

The competition graph of an acyclic directed graph D is the undirected graph on the same vertex set as D in which two distinct vertices are adjacent if they have a common out-neighbor in D. The competition number of an undirected graph G is the least number of isolated vertices that have to be added to G to make it the competition graph of an acyclic directed graph. We resolve two conjectures concerning competition graphs. First we prove a conjecture of Opsut by showing that the competition number of every quasi-line graph is at most 2. Recall that a quasi-line graph, also called a locally co-bipartite graph, is a graph for which the neighborhood of every vertex can be partitioned into at most two cliques. To prove this conjecture we devise an alternative characterization of quasi-line graphs to the one by Chudnovsky and Seymour. Second, we prove a conjecture of Kim by showing that the competition number of any graph is at most one greater than the number of holes in the graph. Our methods also allow us to prove a strengthened form of this conjecture recently proposed by Kim, Lee, Park and Sano, showing that the competition number of any graph is at most one greater than the dimension of the subspace of the cycle space spanned by the holes. [less ▲]

Calabi-Yau structures for multiplicative preprojective algebras

in Journal of Noncommutative Geometry (in press)

On Rational Entailment for Propositional Typicality Logic

in Artificial Intelligence and Law (in press)

Propositional Typicality Logic (PTL) is a recently proposed logic, ob- tained by enriching classical propositional logic with a typicality opera- tor capturing the most typical (alias normal or ... [more ▼]

Propositional Typicality Logic (PTL) is a recently proposed logic, ob- tained by enriching classical propositional logic with a typicality opera- tor capturing the most typical (alias normal or conventional) situations in which a given sentence holds. The semantics of PTL is in terms of ranked models as studied in the well-known KLM approach to preferen- tial reasoning and therefore KLM-style rational consequence relations can be embedded in PTL. In spite of the non-monotonic features introduced by the semantics adopted for the typicality operator, the obvious Tarskian definition of entailment for PTL remains monotonic and is therefore not appropriate in many contexts. Our first important result is an impossibil- ity theorem showing that a set of proposed postulates that at first all seem appropriate for a notion of entailment with regard to typicality cannot be satisfied simultaneously. Closer inspection reveals that this result is best interpreted as an argument for advocating the development of more than one type of PTL entailment. In the spirit of this interpretation, we in- vestigate three different (semantic) versions of entailment for PTL, each one based on the definition of rational closure as introduced by Lehmann and Magidor for KLM-style conditionals, and constructed using different notions of minimality. [less ▲]

Can the Plight of the European Banking Structural Reforms be a Blessing in Disguise?

in European Business Organization Law Review (in press)

One of the problems perceived to be at the heart of the global financial crisis was an amalgamation of various commercial and investment banking activities under one entity, as well as the ... [more ▼]

One of the problems perceived to be at the heart of the global financial crisis was an amalgamation of various commercial and investment banking activities under one entity, as well as the interconnectedness of the banking entities with other financial institutions, investment funds, and the shadow banking system. This paper focuses on various measures that aim to structurally separate the banking entities and their core functions from riskier financial activities such as (proprietary) trading or investments in alternative investment funds. Although banking structural reforms in the EU, UK, and the US have taken different forms, their common denominator is the separation of core banking functions from certain trading or securities market activities. Having reviewed the arguments for and against banking structural reforms and their varieties in major jurisdictions, including the EU, UK, US, France, and Germany, the paper argues that a more nuanced approach to introducing such measures at the EU level is warranted. Given the different market structures across the Atlantic and the lack of conclusive evidence on the beneficial impact of banking structural reforms, the paper concludes that the withdrawal of the banking structural reforms proposal by the European Commission has been a prudent move. It seems that in the absence of concrete evidence, experimenting with structural reforms at the Member-State level would be less costly and would provide for opportunities for learning from smaller mistakes that could pave the way for a more optimal approach to introducing banking structural reforms at the European level in the future. [less ▲]

Ordre constitutionnel et intégration économique Réflexions sur les incidences constitutionnelles de l’approfondissement de l’UEM.

in Politeia (in press)

A Meta-Analysis of Viewing Time Measures of Sexual Interest in Children

in Archives of Sexual Behavior (in press)

Due to unobtrusiveness and ease of implementation, viewing time (VT) measures of sexual interest in children have sparked increasing research interest in forensic contexts over the last two decades. The ... [more ▼]

Due to unobtrusiveness and ease of implementation, viewing time (VT) measures of sexual interest in children have sparked increasing research interest in forensic contexts over the last two decades. The current study presents two meta-analyses of VT measures adapted to assess pedophilic interest to determine their discrimination between sexual offenders against children (SOC) and non-SOC groups as well as convergent validity (associations with other measures of sexual interest in children). On average, VT measures showed moderate discrimination between criterion groups (fixed-effect d = 0.60, 95% CI [0.51, 0.68], N = 2,705, k = 14) and significant convergent validity with self-reports, penile plethysmography, Implicit Association Tests and offence behavioral measures ranging from r =.18 to r = .38. VT measures, however, provided better discrimination for adults (fixed-effect d = 0.78, 95% CI [0.64, 0.92]) than adolescent samples (fixed-effect d = 0.50, 95% CI [0.40, 0.61]), Qbetween = 9.37, p = .002. Moreover, using pedophilic difference scores within adult samples substantially increased VT measures’ validity (fixed-effect d = 1.03, 95% CI [0.82, 1.25], N = 414, k = 7). Results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and applied implications for forensic contexts. [less ▲]

Teachers’ assessments of students’ achievements: The ecological validity of studies using case vignettes

in Journal of Experimental Education (in press)

De quoi les Conseils nationaux de la productivité sont-ils le nom ? Contribution à la réflexion sur le sens de la gouvernance économique européenne et ses effets sur l’administration nationale

in Europe (in press)

Diversifizierung von Kindertagesbetreuungsangeboten durch mixed economy of care: Eine vergleichende Perspektive aus Luxemburg und Deutschland.

in Zeitschrift für Soziologie der Erziehung und Sozialisation = Journal for Sociology of Education and Socialization (in press)

A Polynomial Time Subsumption Algorithm for Nominal Safe $ELO_{\bot}$ under Rational Closure

in Information Sciences (in press)

Description Logics (DLs) under Rational Closure (RC) is a well-known framework for non-monotonic reasoning in DLs. In this paper, we address the concept subsumption decision problem under RC for nominal ... [more ▼]

Description Logics (DLs) under Rational Closure (RC) is a well-known framework for non-monotonic reasoning in DLs. In this paper, we address the concept subsumption decision problem under RC for nominal safe $ELO_{\bot}$, a notable and practically important DL representative of the OWL 2 profile OWL 2 EL. Our contribution here is to define a polynomial time subsumption procedure for nominal safe $ELO_{\bot}$ under RC that relies entirely on a series of classical, monotonic $EL_{\bot}$ subsumption tests. Therefore, any existing classical monotonic $EL_{\bot}$ reasoner can be used as a black box to implement our method. We then also adapt the method to one of the known extensions of RC for DLs, namely Defeasible Inheritance-based DLs without losing the computational tractability. [less ▲]

Recent Results on Douglas–Rachford Methods for Combinatorial Optimization Problems

in Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications (in press)

We discuss recent positive experiences applying convex feasibility algorithms of Douglas-Rachford type to highly combinatorial and far from convex problems.