University of Mannheim

About: University of Mannheim is a education organization based out in Mannheim, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Context (language use) & Politics. The organization has 4448 authors who have published 12918 publications receiving 446557 citations. The organization is also known as: Uni Mannheim & UMA.

Reassessing the Link Between Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Instability

Abstract: Premarital cohabitation has been found to be positively correlated with the likelihood of marital dissolution in the United States. To reassess this link, I estimate proportional hazard models of marital dissolution for first marriages by using pooled data from the 1988, 1995, and 2002 surveys of the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). These results suggest that the positive relationship between premarital cohabitation and marital instability has weakened for more recent birth and marriage cohorts. Using multiple marital outcomes for a person to account for one source of unobserved heterogeneity, panel models suggest that cohabitation is not selective of individuals with higher risk of marital dissolution and may be a stabilizing factor for higher-order marriages. Further research with more recent data is needed to assess whether these results are statistical artifacts caused by data weaknesses in the NSFG.

Expression of oestrogen receptor β and prognosis of colorectal cancer

Abstract: Previous studies suggest that sex steroids influence colorectal cancer (CRC) carcinogenesis The oestrogen receptor β (ERβ) is the predominantly expressed ER in the colon and loss of ERβ in CRC has been associated with advanced cancer stages Information on vital status by the end of 2009 was obtained for 1262 CRC patients recruited between 2003 and 2007 The ERβ expression was immunohistochemically measured and associations of ERβ scores with overall survival (OS), disease-specific survival (DSS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were evaluated using Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for prognostic factors, such as tumour stage and second primary tumours Of the 1101 tumour samples with successful measurement, 535 were ERβ negative (486%), 381 (346%) showed moderate and 185 (168%) showed high ERβ expression Compared with high ERβ expression, lack of ERβ was associated with higher cancer stages as well as greater tumour extent In multivariate analyses, ERβ negativity was associated with an increased hazard ratio for death (HR=161, 95% CI 109–240, P=002), death attributed to CRC (HR=154, 95% CI 099–239, P=006) as well as a poorer DFS (DFS HR=164, 95% CI 123–336, P=004) The associations were stronger in stage I-III patients (OS HR=220, 95% CI 128–406, P=0007, DSS HR=238, 95% CI 120–539, P=002, respectively) Lack of ERβ expression is associated with advanced cancer stages and independently associated with poor survival

Introduction: Civicness, Equality, and Democracy—A “Dark Side” of Social Capital?:

Abstract: Debates about social capital usually focus on its presumed positive consequences. Although this expectation has been corroborated empirically, in many instances some less benign consequences of soc...

A probabilistic-logical framework for ontology matching

Abstract: Ontology matching is the problem of determining correspondences between concepts, properties, and individuals of different heterogeneous ontologies. With this paper we present a novel probabilistic-logical framework for ontology matching based on Markov logic. We define the syntax and semantics and provide a formalization of the ontology matching problem within the framework. The approach has several advantages over existing methods such as ease of experimentation, incoherence mitigation during the alignment process, and the incorporation of a-priori confidence values. We show empirically that the approach is efficient and more accurate than existing matchers on an established ontology alignment benchmark dataset.

Collaborate with practitioners - but beware of collaborative research

Abstract: Collaborative research is seen as a promising approach for bridging the rigor-relevance gap. In this essay, the authors criticize that the proponents of this approach tend to downplay communication difficulties between practitioners and researchers. The authors apply psycholinguistic concepts of layperson–expert communication and system theory to demonstrate that it is extremely difficult to integrate knowledge that has been generated in the different contexts of science and practice. The authors argue that collaborative approaches like action research, consulting, or executive training are more effective than collaborative research in ridging the rigor-relevance gap. A critical review of reports on collaborative research projects discloses some evidence in support of their assumptions. We conclude by encouraging researchers and practitioners to inspire each other through different forms of collaboration. However, we argue that attempts to turn managers into coresearchers with the special responsibility f...