Mutiple three-decision procedure for comparing several exponential treatments with the best control

In this paper, the three-decision procedures to classify p treatments as better than or worse than one control, proposed for normal/symmetric probability models [Bohrer, Multiple three-decision rules for parametric signs. J. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 74 (1979), pp. 432–437; Bohrer et al., Multiple three-decision rules for factorial simple effects: Bonferroni wins again!, J. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 76 (1981), pp. 119–124; Liu, A multiple three-decision procedure for comparing several treatments with a control, Austral. J. Statist. 39 (1997), pp. 79–92 and Singh and Mishra, Classifying logistic populations using sample medians, J. Statist. Plann. Inference 137 (2007), pp. 1647–1657]; in the literature, have been extended to asymmetric two-parameter exponential probability models to classify p(p≥1) treatments as better than or worse than the best of q(q≥1) control treatments in terms of location parameters. Critical constants required for the implementation of the proposed procedure are tabulated for some pre-specified values of probability of no misclassification. Power function of the proposed procedure is also defined and a common sample size necessary to guarantee various pre-specified power levels are tabulated. Optimal allocation scheme is also discussed. Finally, the implementation of the proposed methodology is demonstrated through numerical example.     

More than an urban legend: the short- and long-run effects of unplanned fertility shocks

This paper examines the short- and long-run effects of a quasi-exogenous variation in fertility behavior due to a yearlong period of power rationing in Colombia in 1992. We show that power shortages caused a mini baby boom and that the increase in fertility was unplanned and persistent: the time in between births was reduced and overall lifetime fertility increased. We also present evidence suggesting that women who had a baby due to the outage found themselves in worse socioeconomic conditions 12 years later.     

Asymptotic properties of a quast-maximum likelihood estimator in truncated regression model with serial correlation

Robinson (1982a) presented a general approach to serial correlation in limited dependent variable models and proved the strong consistency and asymptotic normality of the quasi-maximum likelihood estimator (QMLE) for the Tobit model with serial correlation, obtained under the assumption of independent errors. This paper proves the strong consistency and asymptotic normality of the QMLE based on independent errors for the truncated regression model with serial correlation and gives consistent estimators for the limiting covariance matrix of the QMLE.     

On a Multiple Three-Decision Problem for Comparing Several Treatments with the Best Control

In this article, a multiple three-decision procedure is proposed to classify p (≥2) treatments as better or worse than the best of q (≥2) control treatments in one way layout. Critical constants required for the implementation of the proposed procedure are tabulated for some pre-specified values of probability of no misclassification. Power function of the proposed procedure is defined and a common sample size necessary to guarantee various pre-specified power levels are tabulated under two optimal allocation schemes. Finally the implementation of the proposed methodology is demonstrated through numerical examples based on real life data.     

Multiple comparisons with a control for exponential location parameters under heteroscedasticity

In this paper, a new design-oriented two-stage two-sided simultaneous confidence intervals, for comparing several exponential populations with control population in terms of location parameters under heteroscedasticity, are proposed. If there is a prior information that the location parameter of k exponential populations are not less than the location parameter of control population, one-sided simultaneous confidence intervals provide more inferential sensitivity than two-sided simultaneous confidence intervals. But the two-sided simultaneous confidence intervals have advantages over the one-sided simultaneous confidence intervals as they provide both lower and upper bounds for the parameters of interest. The proposed design-oriented two-stage two-sided simultaneous confidence intervals provide the benefits of both the two-stage one-sided and two-sided simultaneous confidence intervals. When the additional sample at the second stage may not be available due to the experimental budget shortage or other factors in an experiment, one-stage two-sided confidence intervals are proposed, which combine the advantages of one-stage one-sided and two-sided simultaneous confidence intervals. The critical constants are obtained using the techniques given in Lam [9,10]. These critical constant are compared with the critical constants obtained by Bonferroni inequality techniques and found that critical constant obtained by Lam [9,10] are less conservative than critical constants computed from the Bonferroni inequality technique. Implementation of the proposed simultaneous confidence intervals is demonstrated by a numerical example.     

A Multiple Three-Decision Procedures for Comparing Several Treatments with a Control Under Heteroscedasticity

In this article, the design-oriented two-stage multiple three-decision procedure is proposed to classify a set of normal populations with respect to a control under heteroscedasticity. The statistical tables of percentage points and the power-related design constants, to implement our new two-stage procedure, are given. Sometimes when the sample for the second stage is not available, the one-stage data analysis procedure is proposed. Classifying a treatment better than control when it is actually worse (and vice versa) is known as type III error. Both the two-stage and one-stage procedures control the type III error rate at a specified level. The relationship between the two-stage and one-stage procedures is discussed. Finally, the application of the proposed procedures is illustrated with an example.     

Juggling a “junk-food” diet: responses of an urban bird to fluctuating anthropogenic-food availability

Within highly urban systems, anthropogenic activity often fluctuates cyclically, e.g. between weekdays and weekends. Thus, urban species may regularly experience significant changes in human activity and anthropogenic food abundance over very short time scales. Knowledge of how urban birds cope with such fluctuations may improve our understanding of how some species exploit and thrive in urbanised habitats. In this study, we explore the consequences of highly fluctuating anthropogenic food for Red-winged Starlings Onychognathus morio at the University of Cape Town campus, South Africa. Here, high numbers of students (and therefore anthropogenic food resources) are present during weekdays in term time (high human presence “HHP” days). However, students are largely absent and food outlets closed during weekends and vacation periods (“LHP” days). Using focal observations and morning and evening weights of habituated colour-ringed starlings during the non-breeding season, we investigated how diet, behaviour and daily mass gain differed between HHP and LHP days. We hypothesised that anthropogenic food supply is beneficial to this city-dwelling species. We predicted that on HHP days starlings would consume overall more food and a greater proportion of anthropogenic food items, resulting in less time spent foraging and greater daily mass gain compared to LHP days. We found that on HHP days, starlings consumed more anthropogenic food, however overall food intake, and time budgets were similar to LHP days. Additionally, there was an indication that mass gain was greater on HHP days. Thus, starlings appear to cope with potential food shortage on LHP days by including more natural items in their diet.

     

(Re)tracing queerness: archiving indentureship’s ‘coolie homo/erotic’

The erotic lifeworld of Indian indentureship remains buried. This visual essay probes the ‘coolie homoerotic’ as a creative reflection on the place of the homoerotic and queerness within the trans-oceanic lifeworld of coolie indentureship. It uses the methodology of visual assemblage to creatively and critically engage with a rare archival record of alleged sodomy on a coolie ship, the Mersey, bound for British Guiana from Calcutta in 1898. The author uses the archival document, as a residue of homoerotic possibility, to re-trace and deliberately reconfigure the historically present narrative of indentureship through a seven-image collection entitled Postcards from the Perineum. In critically responding to Victorian imagery of moral-labour discipline, the postcards were produced using techniques such as photography, sketching, painting, crafting and body printing. The aim is to visually and imaginatively open up a space for contemplating an aesthetic-eroto-political field of knowledge production in relation to the violence and indignities of indentureship. In doing so, the essay also suggests that indentureship is a site of contrapuntal queerness, through which we might critically provoke normative understandings of this term.     

Logic,language, and values of co-operation versus competition in the context of recreating sustainable community systems

The article highlights the paradox in the language, logic, and values of the larger social system vis-à-vis the market economy system. It observes that the language, logic, and values of co-operation have gradually undergone transformation over time and have been mainstreamed today to that of industrial production and organizations in a competitive market economic system. The article argues that the confusions and tensions today in the theory, practice, and policy for recreating sustainable systems essentially arise out of a lack of conceptual clarity and an inability to distinguish the values, logic, and language of competition from that of co-operation. Based on an action research project during 2008–2013 on developing transitional strategies for rebuilding a sustainable community system from within the existing competitive market economy system, the paper provides a way forward for restructuring the organizational design and institutional architecture on the principles of deep relationships, trust, and co-operation for long-term sustainability.