Search results for "Emma"
showing 10 items of 629 documents
Feature selection for distance-based regression: An umbrella review and a one-shot wrapper
2023
Feature selection (FS) may improve the performance, cost-efficiency, and understandability of supervised machine learning models. In this paper, FS for the recently introduced distance-based supervised machine learning model is considered for regression problems. The study is contextualized by first providing an umbrella review (review of reviews) of recent development in the research field. We then propose a saliency-based one-shot wrapper algorithm for FS, which is called MAS-FS. The algorithm is compared with a set of other popular FS algorithms, using a versatile set of simulated and benchmark datasets. Finally, experimental results underline the usefulness of FS for regression, confirm…
Teacher–child relationships narrated by parents of children with difficulties in self-regulation
2016
This study addresses the relationships between teachers and children (four to six years old) with difficulties in self-regulation from the parent's point of view. Narratives were constructed in 21 interviews with parents of children who have difficulties in self-regulation. The study focused on two questions: (i) What kinds of teacher–child relationships can be identified in the parents’ narratives? and (ii) How is the child positioned in this relational context? The teacher–child relationships found were labelled neutral, problematic and caring. Within these categories, the child was positioned in nine ways ranging from the child as troublesome to the child as unique. The study offers tool…
Trust in the educational partnership narrated by parents of a child with challenging behaviour
2019
This study examined trust in educational partnership in the context of early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Finland, from the viewpoint of parents of a child with challenging behaviour. Typically, such children have difficulties in regulating their behaviour and emotions. Semi-structured interviews with 23 parents were content-analysed in a narrative framework. The analysis revealed two critical elements of trust in educational partnership: (1) Child well-being in the day care centre, and (2) a supportive parent–educator relationship and collaboration. Critical factors in the first element of trust were educators’ respectful and good-quality relationships with the child and fair and…
Flexibly scheduled early childhood education and care: experiences of Finnish parents and educators
2017
This study focuses on flexibly scheduled early childhood education and care (ECEC), an institutional childcare service for Finnish families where both parents, or a single parent, work non-standard hours. Although many countries nowadays offer extended hours day care, only Finland has a publicly provided, law-based system guaranteeing ECEC during non-standard as well as standard hours. We explore, drawing on parental survey data, what kinds of families use such services and when. Furthermore, we utilise web-survey data obtained from early educators to find out what they report as the main challenges involved in implementing flexibly scheduled ECEC. The results showed that single-parent fami…
Preservice teachers’ beliefs about young children’s technology use at home
2021
Teachers’ beliefs about young children’s technology use at home are intertwined with their beliefs about parents and their parenting practices. This paper reports a qualitative study of eight purposefully selected Chinese preservice early childhood (EC) teachers’ beliefs about children’s home technology use and associated representations of parents and teachers. The participants possessed inflated positive beliefs about young children’s natural technology competence but were worried that parents would expose children to content for prolonged periods. Teachers’ role was seen as responsible guides for children and educational authorities over parents. Implications for research and teacher edu…
Between a ‘student abroad’ and ‘being from Latvia’: inequalities of access, prestige, and foreign-earned cultural capital
2017
This paper visualises tertiary-level students who study abroad as simultaneously both international students and members of an emerging diaspora. Coming from a country (Latvia) which is peripheral and relatively poor by European standards, students go abroad for multiple reasons not necessarily directly connected with study (e.g. family reasons, labour migration); yet their evolving diasporic status is instrumentalised by the Latvian government which wants them to return and contribute to the country’s development. Based on 27 in-depth interviews with Latvian students and graduates who have studied abroad, our analysis focuses on three interlinked dimensions of inequality: access to educati…
Protest beliefs in contingent valuation: Explaining their motivation
2006
Abstract The definition and treatment of protest responses in contingent valuation (CV) can have a significant influence on the estimated values of the good in question if these responses are censored. In order to understand how protest responses are motivated, in a CV about forest biodiversity in Germany we used an item battery to identify respondents' protest beliefs. The items were measured for all respondents, irrespective of their willingness to pay (WTP) in principle. Then, a scale based on these beliefs is taken as a dependent variable of regression analyses. In addition to environmental concern we used norms, the warm glow of giving and dilemma concern as further explanatory variabl…
Hidden costs of cuts: austerity, civil service management and the motivation of public officials in Central and Eastern Europe after the crisis
2016
The implementation of austerity measures presents a dilemma for governments. While austerity measures such as cutbacks aim to reduce costs and enhance public sector efficiency, the same measures might undermine the motivation of employees and, consequently, the prospects of effectively implementing austerity programmes. Based on a survey of ministerial officials in Poland and Latvia, this article finds that the scale of cutbacks explains a larger decline of staff motivation in Latvia than in Poland. The article further shows that motivation was more likely to decrease after the crisis if austerity measures involved cutbacks such as staff reductions, recruitment freezes, and a reduction of t…
Inducing efficient conditional cooperation patterns in public goods games, an experimental investigation
2010
This study analyses the behavior in a repeated public goods game when subjects know about the possibility of existence of strict conditional cooperators. We employed a baseline treatment and a threat treatment in which subjects are informed about the possibility of being in a group together with automata playing a grim trigger strategy. We conjecture the resulting game allows for almost fully efficient outcomes. Contributions in the threat treatment increase by 40% before a surprise restart, and by 50% after the surprise restart. In line with the grim trigger strategy subjects contribute either all or nothing in the threat treatment.
Prefazione a Emmanuel Iduma, Lo sguardo di uno sconosciuto
2020
By introducing Emmanuel Iduma's travelogue across Africa, which he traveled from East to West as a member of the Trans-African project "Invisible Borders", the Preface also explains the significance and urgency of launching a new African Literature Series for the respected Milan-based independent press Francesco Brioschi Editore. The Series publishes the works of African writers from the younger generations.