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Many of our ideas about workplaces have been inherited from 20th-century corporations, in which the elements of the workplace have been packaged in a highly typified configuration: work is done by people belonging to an organization, for some clear reason, at a specific place and time, using specific processes. This configuration is increasingly at odds with work practice, and thus workplace writing researchers must reconsider what is meant by the "workplace." This article argues for treating the workplace as a conceptual decision: a bounded case that researchers construct to enable systematic comparisons. After reviewing how cases are bounded in methodology and practice, the article ends with concrete principles and guidance for bounding such case studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades, experiential measures (i.e., self- and informant-report) have dominated clinical psychological science as the primary methods of investigating the nature, causes, and consequences of psychopathology. Recent efforts to understand psychopathology in a comprehensive manner, bridging across measurement modalities and study designs, have yielded disappointing results and small cross-domain effect sizes. This problem has stymied progress in diagnosing and treating mental illness. We contend that we continue to struggle to link different units of analysis in psychopathology research because, as a field, we have not learned the lessons that have been detailed in the literature since at least the 1950s. We argue that our reliance on single units of analysis (e.g., only self-report or only neuroimaging) to conceptualize and operationalize psychological constructs lies at the heart of our struggles. Conflation of a construct with its operationalization in a single measurement modality fundamentally limits the ability to understand its manifestation in other units of analysis. To make progress toward a fine-grained understanding of the symptoms, signs, and mechanisms of psychopathology, we must move past the siloed reification of constructs and prioritize new, integrated research paradigms. General Scientific Summary: This commentary highlights persistent failures of psychological science to find robust associations among data of different types, such as self-report questionnaires, behavioral task performance, or neural and physiological measures. It identifies and critiques common approaches that may contribute to these struggles to relate data of different kinds, and suggests ways forward that may contribute to more success in future investigations of this kind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The current study proposes an approach that accounts for the importance of streets while at the same time accounting for the overlapping spatial nature of social and physical environments captured by the egohood approach. Our approach utilizes overlapping clusters of streets based on the street network distance, which we term street egohoods. Methods: We used the street segment as a base unit and employed two strategies in clustering the street segments: (1) based on the First Order Queen Contiguity; and (2) based on the street network distance considering physical barriers. We utilized our approaches for measuring ecological factors and estimated crime rates in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Results: We found that whereas certain socio-demographics, land use, and business employee measures show stronger relationships with crime when measured at the smaller street based unit, a number of them actually exhibited stronger relationships when measured using our larger street egohoods. We compared the results for our three-sized street egohoods to street segments and two sizes of block egohoods proposed by Hipp and Boessen (Criminology 51(2):287–327, 2013) and found that two egohood strategies essentially are not different at the quarter mile egohood level but this similarity appears lower when looking at the half mile egohood level. Also, the street egohood models are a better fit for predicting violent and property crime compared to the block egohood models. Conclusions: A primary contribution of the current study is to develop and propose a new perspective of measuring neighborhood based on urban streets. We empirically demonstrated that whereas certain socio-demographic measures show the strongest relationship with crime when measured at the micro geographic unit of street segments, a number of them actually exhibited the strongest relationship when measured using our larger street egohoods. We hope future research can use egohoods to expand understanding of neighborhoods and crime.

Copyright of América Latina Hoy is the property of Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Romanica Olomucensia is the property of Palacky University in Olomouc and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We present a critical perspective on the current state of research on educational dialogues, within and without Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning environments, in order to propose research perspectives in the intersection of these two domains. Our main proposal is that in order to integrate different types of human or machine analyzed data over different timescales, it is necessary to do so within a theorization of the object of study and its units of analysis. Standpoints on the nature of the object of study, conceived as the development of collective thinking in and by dialogue, on the importance of different timescales and broader units of analysis such as collaborative learning platforms, form the bases for these proposals. We also call for broadening and integrating theoretical perspectives on (educational) dialogue itself, beyond a purely logocentric vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nations have been questioned as meaningful units for analyzing culture due to their allegedly limited variance-capturing power and large internal heterogeneity. Against this skepticism, we argue that culture is by definition a collective phenomenon and focusing on individual differences contradicts the very concept of culture. Through the "miracle of aggregation," we can eliminate random noise and arbitrary variation at the individual level in order to distill the central cultural tendencies of nations. Accordingly, we depict national culture as a gravitational field that socializes individuals into the orbit of a nation's central cultural tendency. Even though individuals are also exposed to other gravitational forces, subcultures in turn gravitate within the limited orbit of their national culture. Using data from the World Values Survey, we show that individual values cluster in concentric circles around their nation's cultural gravity center. We reveal the miracle of aggregation by demonstrating that nations capture the bulk of the variation in the individuals' cultural values once they are aggregated into lower-level territorial units such as towns and sub-national regions. We visualize the gravitational force of national cultures by plotting various intra-national groups from five large countries that form distinct national clusters. Contrary to many scholars' intuitions, alternative social aggregates, such as ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups, as well as diverse socio-demographic categories, add negligible explained variance to that already captured by nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ciência da Informação is the property of Instituto Brasileiro de Informacao em Ciencia e Tecnologia (IBICT) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Behavior interacts with its environment both during an organism's lifetime and across generations through natural selection. Speech is a natural event that comes down to sounds that affect the behavior of conspecifics. Merging and enhancing Skinner's work on selection as a cause of behavior change on the one hand and his work on verbal behavior on the other provides a theoretical basis for placing verbal behavior in an evolutionary framework. Data suggests that this interaction between behavior and the environment is best described without using the hypothetical concept of response strength. The article proposes a framework that helps us understand selection processes in conversations. After a brief introduction to the value of and the alternative to Skinner's verbal behavior approach, the paper goes on to propose modifications to the conceptualization of verbal operants before concluding with an outline of the possible implications of these modifications for empirical investigations of verbal behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista del Museo de Antropología is the property of Museo de Antropologia - IDACOR and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

El trabajo analiza figuras del psicólogo de Estudiantes de Psicología de Universidad de Buenos Aires, antes y después de las Prácticas Profesionales y de Investigación, en 2008 y 2009. El objetivo es comprender la heterogeneidad de experiencias y los cambios cognitivos y actitudinales a través de los giros en los modelos mentales de los psicólogos en formación. La participación guiada en comunidades de práctica y la implicación en procesos de internalización y externalización son fundamentales para la apropiación de instrumentos de mediación y la construcción de competencias profesionales. El análisis factorial evidencia confiabilidad de los instrumentos de recolección de datos e identifica sistemas representacionales. Se denotan fortalezas y desafíos de la profesionalización y enriquecimiento en ejes relevantes: perspectivismo, tramas intersubjetivas y psicosociales, problemas y acciones complejas, inter.-agencialidad, especificidad de la Psicología y articulación con otras disciplinas; objetivos, formulación de hipótesis, direccionalidad de intervenciones, multiplicidad de herramientas, resultados y atribuciones.The study analyses the figures of psychologists that students of Psychology at Buenos Aires University have built, at the beginning and at the end of Undergraduate Professional and Research Apprenticeship, in 2008 and 2009. The aim is to appreciate the heterogeneity of experiences and the change of cognitions and attitudes through the shifts in mental models of future psychologists in training. Guided participation in communities of practice and the involvement in processes of internalization and externalization are important for the appropriation of mediating instruments and for the construction of professional competences. The factorial analysis demonstrates confiability of instruments of data collection and identifies representational systems. Strengths and challenges are embedded in the process of becoming professional psychologist. Data show enhancement in significant axes: perspectivism, interpersonal and psycho-social wefts, complex problems and activities, inter-agencies, specificity of Psychology and its joint with other sciences, aims, hypothesis, direction of interventions, multiplicity of tools, results and attributions.

Historically, the concept of development has referred to processes that take place early in life. A basic scholarly ambition has been to provide research results that make it possible to understand and predict ontogenesis. The object of inquiry in these ambitions has been the individual and his/her path towards adulthood. It seems reasonable to assume that in complex societies, cultural and societal changes co-determine human functioning and development at all age levels, and in ways that are significant for most spheres of life. In life-span developmental psychology, the validity of the person-centered models has been questioned, and more complex perspectives, involving interaction between persons and their environments, have been suggested. In the present article, it is argued that studying development in complex societies must take the hybrid nature of human cognitive and other capacities into account. The conception of mind dominating most of life-span developmental research is too simplistic. Development does not reside solely in the individual but must be understood as the capacity to adapt to, and participate in, socio-material ecologies of communication that characterize rapidly changing societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Se analizan tres conjuntos arqueofaunísticos del sitio Matancillas 2 (Puna de Salta), provenientes de un basural, un recinto, y un sector interrecinto, con el objetivo de obtener información sobre el consumo de recursos faunísticos en esta población humana del Temprano (ca. 2000 AP). También se determinan sus grados de integridad, los cuales proporcionan información diferencial de cada conjunto. Las evidencias demuestran un rol principal del agente humano en la formación y modificación de los conjuntos, con claros indicadores de actividades vinculadas al consumo; esto especialmente en los especimenes de camélidos, absolutamente mayoritarios en las muestras. Asimismo, existiría un procesamiento integral de estos artiodáctilos, teniendo en cuenta la representación de casi todas sus partes esqueletarias. Por otra parte, la alta presencia de falanges y huesos del tarso, posiblemente se relacione a su bajísimo índice de fragmentación. Por último, se resalta que la diversidad taxonómica es muy baja, y los camélidos (tanto domesticados como silvestres) fueron los recursos faunísticos principales para esta población del Temprano de la Puna.The present work analyzes three archaeofaunal assemblages from the Matancillas 2 site (Puna de Salta). They come from a dump, an enclosure, and an inter-enclosure sector. The objective is to obtain information about the consumption of faunal resources in the human population of the Early Period (ca. 2000 BP). Their degree of integrity was also determined, which gave differential information for each assemblage. The evidence shows the principal role of human agency in the formation and modification of the assemblages, which demonstrate with certainty activities related to consumption, especially in relation to camelid specimens that are the majority in the samples. These artiodactyls were fully processed, as almost every skeletal part was found; the elevated presence of phalanx and tarsus bones is probably related to their very low fragmentation index. Finally, it is emphasized that taxonomic diversity is very low and that camelids (both domesticated and wild) were the main faunal resource for this population of the Early Period in the Puna.

El trabajo analiza "modelos mentales" de intervención sobre problemas situados de estudiantes de Psicología de la Universidad de Buenos Aires, antes y después de las Prácticas Profesionales, en el año 2004. El objetivo es comprender la heterogeneidad y diversidad de sentidos de la experiencia de los "psicólogos en formación", en la perspectiva del desarrollo de las competencias profesionales. El recorte delimita ejes relevantes en una unidad de análisis multidimensional, que entrelaza tramas, sujetos y contextos, focalizando los giros y tensiones producidos a partir de la participación guiada y apropiación de herramientas en "comunidades de práctica y aprendizaje" de instituciones sociales. Se introduce la reflexión sobre fortalezas y debilidades del proceso de profesionalización, en diferentes áreas de actuación de psicólogos del siglo XXI. Se denota diversidad de perspectivas y ampliación de unidades de análisis, hipótesis explicativas, articulación con otras disciplinas, inter-agencialidad, intervención sobre tramas vinculares e implicación.The study analyses mental models of professional intervention in situated problems that students of Psychology of Buenos Aires University present at the beginning and at the end of Undergraduated Practice Apprentice-ship, in 2004. The aim is to appreciate the heterogeneity and diversity of senses of Psychologists Becoming Professionals experience, in the perspective of their competences development. We present significant axes of a multidimensional unit of analysis, that connects networks, individuals and contexts, and we focus the shifts and tensions produced in guided participation and tools appropriation in "communities of practice and learning". We introduce the reflection about strengths and weakness in the development of "becoming professional process" in different areas of psychologists work in XXI century. Data show the diversity of perspectives of psychologist's performance in student's representations, with broadening of units of analysis, theoretical hypothesis, interdisciplinary activity, action over networks and implication in the task.

In 2014 in the United States, an estimated 62.8 million people, or 25.3% of the population volunteered their time and money to a nonprofit organization, spending around 7.9 billion hours of volunteer time ("Volunteering in 2014," 2015). Volunteerism accounts for a significant portion of the workforce, particularly among nonprofit organizations that rely heavily on community support to provide necessary, yet usually unprofitable services. Despite the importance of volunteer practices, volunteer retention is a pervasive issue and can be a time-consuming and costly endeavor for the organization. The current paper provides a review of behavior analytic literature to discuss how behavior science is suited for empirically investigating the origins and maintenance of volunteer behavior. Furthermore, although behavior systems analysis has not specifically addressed volunteerism, this analytic approach could be beneficial to investigate ameliorating volunteer retention on the large scale. The conclusion explores research suggestions and likely implications of expanding behavior analysis further into this domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NIMH's Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project seeks to advance the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders by promoting psychobiological research on dimensional constructs that might cut across traditional diagnostic boundaries (Kozak & Cuthbert, ). At the core of this approach is the notion that these dimensional constructs can be assessed across different units of analysis (e.g., genes, physiology, behavior), enriching the constructs and providing more complete explanations of clinical problems. While the conceptual aspects of RDoC have been discussed in several prior papers, its methodological aspects have received comparatively less attention. For example, how to integrate data from different units of analysis has been relatively unclear. Here, we discuss one means of psychobiologically operationalizing RDoC constructs across different units of analysis (the psychoneurometric approach; Yancey et al., ), highlighting ways in which this approach might be refined in future iterations. We conclude that there is much to be learned from this technique; however, greater attention to scale-development methods and to psychometrics will likely benefit this and other methodological approaches to combining measurements across multiple units of analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the issue of units of analysis and atomistic models in psychology taking creativity research as a case study. A classic typology in this area, initially proposed by Rhodes (1961), distinguishes between the four P's of creativity: person, process, product, and press (environment). Continuing an effort to rewrite this basic language of the discipline from a cultural psychological perspective in the form of five A's (actor, audience, action, artefact, affordances), the discussion here focuses on bringing relationships to the fore within this framework and problematising strict distinctions between each of the five elements. A closer look at the five A's of creativity, drawing on theoretical considerations and illustrated by interviews with creators working in different domains, reveals the permeable borders surrounding these units and challenges clear divisions between actors and audiences, action and artefacts, actors and artefacts. In the end, it is argued that creative phenomena cannot be properly understood and studied outside of their integrated and dynamic totality defined as a creativity complex. Implications of adopting this 'molecular' perspective for theory and methodology are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an introduction to this special issue, this essay surveys problems of scale and perspective in historical and social scientific scholarship on the Maghrib. It locates the studies collected in this volume in the longer perspective of trends in scholarship on the region, identifies some analytical challenges shared across disciplines, and suggests some ways of addressing the difficulties of articulating different (local, regional, national, and global) levels of analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In cross-national research on party systems, the empirical units of analysis are often assumed to be self-evident, which can be conducive to misleading research results. This problem is particularly important with regard to party system classification, for which a methodologically rigorous approach to the units of analysis is needed. This article proposes a set of operational criteria for identifying elements that qualify for inclusion within the universe of democratic party systems among individual election outcomes and country-specific sequences of elections. On this basis, I introduce additional criteria for distinguishing between party systems and party non-systems, and among party systems evolving within the same nation-state settings. By applying these criteria to a set of 1502 national legislative elections held in the world’s democracies from 1792 to 2009, the article identifies 162 units that can be entered into a classification of the world’s democratic party systems and 21 party non-systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The concept of syntax has changed over time according to various linguistic theories in which it has been conceived. This fact has had an impact on operative conceptions about this phenomenon and, therefore, on the selection of units of analysis and on the procedures used for its assessment. The debate plays a key role when it comes to accounting for both the initial acquisition and late language development (Berman, 2004). Within the ongoing FONDECYT Project Nº 1100600, the objective of this article is to give an account of the evolution of the concept of syntax and the procedures to study empirically this phenomenon. For this purpose, the main linguistic theories are revisited as well as the way in which these have assessed syntactical development. Traditional theories which assume that syntactic maturity implies larger number of elements per sentence are reviewed. Later on, Hunt's (1965, 1970) proposal, which helps measure terminal minimal units (Unit-T) and is influenced by generativism, is presented. Finally, Berman's "clause packaging", a unit of analysis that functions as an interface between syntax and discourse (Katzenberger, 2003; Berman, 2004; Nir and Berman, 2010) is presented. Findings help to see an evolution map that addresses from an isolated view of this phenomenon to an integrated view of syntax in discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to feature a theoretical discussion of competitiveness as an entry point for further empirical studies within the School of Business at the Universidad del Norte. The concept of competitiveness has been part of the debate among several "think tanks" at the international level. After the analysis of the theoretical foundations of competitiveness, the paper highlights some concepts to support those theories. In the scope of Colombia, the study explores the country's efforts addressed towards the application of competitiveness concepts. At the end of the paper a model is proposed as a basis for further studies. Moreover, a series of questions and recommendations are made considering the region as a unit of analysis, where competitiveness should be studied as a theoretical structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sociologia, Problemas e Práticas is the property of Centro de Investigacao e Estudos de Sociologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper contests the major emphasis placed on the multidimensional nature of poverty measurement. Instead, it argues that poverty pictures created by different measures and at different units of analysis tend to converge. This argument is derived from a comparison of poverty pictures created using income and asset-based measures at the national and household level in five South African Development Community countries. Although multidimensional measures have value in illuminating subtle differences, the findings indicate a single dimension of poverty that runs throughout all the measures and levels of analysis. However, despite the single poverty picture provided by different measures, the abandonment of these different measures is not supported. Multidimensional measures provide insight into particular elements of poverty that is useful and relevant to poverty interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction to this second special issue aims to probe the epistemological conditions of possibility of African Americanist anthropology. In particular, it highlights the problematic of definitions of units of analysis in the comparative logic on which this particular field of inquiry has long been based. Given the conceptual instability of the categories 'Africa' and 'America' discussed in the previous number of this special double issue, attention is given to how scholars variously became implicated in the creation of 'African horizons', and to potential ways in which past approaches might not only be opened up to 'symmetrical analyses', but in fact transcended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to review the research activities in information systems (IS) in the mainland of China. We reviewed and analyzed a total of 859 research papers in information systems published in 18 leading academic journals in business and management in the mainland from 1999 to 2005. Applying the content analysis method, we first categorized the papers by their reference disciplines, research topics, research methods, and the units of analysis. The data were then compared with the results of similar Western studies. Results show that, among the published IS research papers in the mainland of China, IS research itself represents the primary theoretical reference discipline; organizational and system/software issues are the main topics of the focus; non-empirical studies were the dominant research method; and the majority of studies were conducted at the organizational and/or system level. Compared with the West, IS research in China demonstrates its own characteristics in theoretical foundations, research focuses, and research methods, and there are a number of areas that need to be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to review current research activities concerning information systems (IS) in mainland China. We thus examined Chinese IS research with reference to discipline, research topic, research method, and units of analysis, identifying and reviewing a total of 604 research papers, published in 18 leading Chinese academic journals from 1999 to 2003. The results show that: (I) IS itself represents the major theoretical reference of the studies; (2) the IS research in China has clearly focused on organizational and system/software issues; (3) non-empirical studies were dominant in the field of IS research in China; and (4) the majority of studies were conducted at an organizational or systemic level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explanations for the rise in frequency of shell-tempered pottery in the Eastern United States have vacillated between historical and functional accounts. Using evolutionary theory, the historical records of first appearance and diffusion are woven with physical properties of shell-tempered pottery that may have led to its selection. An appreciation of the scale at which change occurs and the units of analysis most appropriate for understanding that change is necessary for an explanation that can account for the widespread use of shell-tempering and the more-or-less coincident rise in its frequency. A hypothesis with empirical consequences is offered as a starting point for understanding this phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]