Patronage and Public Goods Provisioning in an Unequal Land

Social Indicators Research - This study explores the relationship between economic and political inequalities and access to public goods provisioning in Pakistan. We construct measures of political...     

Utilization of child helpline (CHL) among adolescents in Saudi Arabia: Results from a national survey

This study determines the rate of adolescents' interest in disclosing their exposure to abuse or neglect through a child helpline (CHL) and identifies the factors influencing disclosure through the line. A cross‐sectional, national survey utilizing ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tool‐Children's Home Version was conducted in secondary high schools in the main 5 provinces of Saudi Arabia. Boys and girls from public and private schools were selected to participate. Students (N = 16,010) aged 15–18 years were invited to complete the survey. The relationship between willingness to utilize CHL and demographic characteristics of the participants were evaluated using chi‐square test. Approximately, half (48%) of the participants reported their willingness to utilize a future CHL if they experienced any type of abuse in the past. Significant difference in age, gender, areas of residence, and abuse experience were found in terms of willingness to utilize CHL, and it was more likely among older age (17–18 years), boys, urban area, and abused participants (p < .01). Participants who reported experiencing multiple forms of abuse, neglect, and psychological abuse were 1.3, 1.9, and 1.2 times, respectively, more likely willing to utilize CHL. Educating adolescents about the utilization of CHL through awareness‐raising activities might reduce the prevalence of child abuse.     

Some results on conditional expectations of lower record values

In this paper, we propose a measure for obtaining the expectation of time between two lower k-records under the condition that the greater one is given. Several properties of the proposed measure are derived. Some characterization results and stochastic comparisons based on the new measure are also provided.     

Inferences on the Coefficients of Variation in a Multivariate Normal Population

In this article, the problem of testing the equality of coefficients of variation in a multivariate normal population is considered, and an asymptotic approach and a generalized p-value approach based on the concepts of generalized test variable are proposed. Monte Carlo simulation studies show that the proposed generalized p-value test has good empirical sizes, and it is better than the asymptotic approach. In addition, the problem of hypothesis testing and confidence interval for the common coefficient variation of a multivariate normal population are considered, and a generalized p-value and a generalized confidence interval are proposed. Using Monte Carlo simulation, we find that the coverage probabilities and expected lengths of this generalized confidence interval are satisfactory, and the empirical sizes of the generalized p-value are close to nominal level. We illustrate our approaches using a real data.     

On proportional mean past lifetimes model

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we first investigate some reliability properties in the proportional mean past lifetimes model. Specifically, some implications of stochastic orders and aging notions between random variables which have proportional mean past lifetimes are discussed. Then, as an extension, mixture model arising from the proportional mean past lifetimes model is introduced and preservation properties of some stochastic orders and aging notions concerning this mixture model are studied. We also study some negative dependence properties in the proposed mixture model.     

Nonparametric estimators for quantile density function under length-biased sampling

Abstract

In this article, the strong uniform consistency of two nonparametric estimators for the quantile density function is established under length-biased sampling. The rate of the strong approximation of the resulting processes of these estimators will be presented as well. A Monte Carlo simulation study is carried out to compare the proposed estimators with each other in terms of mean squared errors.     

Implementation of holonic scheduling and control in flow-line manufacturing systems: die-casting case study

The success of a flow-line manufacturing system depends on effective production scheduling and control. However, it has been found that current flow-line manufacturing scheduling and control algorithms lack the flexibility to handle interruptions or resource breakdowns; hence, system performance drops automatically and rapidly when interruptions occur. The objective of this research is to investigate if the performance of a flow-line manufacturing system can be improved by integrating agent-based, holonic scheduling and production control. A holonic manufacturing scheduling model has been developed and implemented into a die-casting manufacturing flow line throughout a simulation model. The analysis takes into account the comparisons of overall performances of the system models with the holonic scheduling and conventional scheduling approaches. Simulation results indicate that the holonic manufacturing scheduling and control can significantly increase the uptime efficiency and the production rate of the flow-line manufacturing system.     

Professionals’ Attitude Toward Reporting Child Sexual Abuse in Saudi Arabia

Child sexual abuse (CSA) requires specialized knowledge and training that includes forensic interview skills. The aim of this study was to determine variations in professionals’ attitudes toward CSA by measuring three aspects of forensic attitudes (sensitivity, specificity, and skepticism) and evaluating disagreements concerning the assessment of CSA cases in Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional, web-based study, in which the Child Forensic Attitude Scale was used to measure professionals’ attitudes, was conducted. Professionals who dealt with suspected cases of CSA as part of their jobs or were in professions that necessitated involvement with such cases, were selected as participants. Of 327 participants, 53% were aged ≤40 years, and 54% were men. In addition, 24% were doctors/nurses, 20% were therapists/psychiatrists, 24% were social workers, 17% were educators, 9% were law enforcement professionals, and 5% were medical examiners. Attitude subscale scores differed significantly according to participants’ sex, specialty, and training. Women, healthcare professionals, and those who had participated in more than five training courses were more concerned about the underreporting of abuse (high sensitivity) relative to other professionals. In comparison, men, medical examiners, law enforcement officers, and undertrained professionals tended to underreport suspected sexual abuse cases (high specificity). High specificity in attitudes toward suspected cases of CSA could affect professionals’ judgment and contribute to low reporting rates. Certain strategies, including increasing self-awareness of personal bias, specific CSA recognition courses, and team approaches to case assessment and management, should be implemented to control the influence of subjective factors.     

An extension of the generalized linear failure rate distribution

In this article, we introduce a new extension of the generalized linear failure rate (GLFR) distributions. It includes some well-known lifetime distributions such as extension of generalized exponential and GLFR distributions as special sub-models. In addition, it can have a constant, decreasing, increasing, upside-down bathtub (unimodal), and bathtub-shaped hazard rate function (hrf) depending on its parameters. We provide some of its statistical properties such as moments, quantiles, skewness, kurtosis, hrf, and reversible hrf. The maximum likelihood estimation of the parameters is also discussed. At the end, a real dataset is given to illustrate the usefulness of this new distribution in analyzing lifetime data.     

Spatial heterogeneity in drinking water sources in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA), Ghana

Population and Environment - Universal access to safe drinking water is essential to population health and well-being, as recognized in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). To develop targeted...