The Benefits of Reducing Gun Violence: Evidence from Contingent-Valuation Survey Data

This article presents an estimate of the benefits of reducing crime using the contingent-valuation (CV) method. We focus on gun violence, a crime of growing policy concern in America. Our data come from a national survey in which we ask respondents referendum-type questions that elicit their willingness-to-pay (WTP) to reduce gun violence by 30%. We estimate that the public's WTP to reduce gun assaults by 30% equals $24.5 billion, or around $1.2 million per injury. Our estimate implies a statistical value of life that is quite consistent with those derived from other methods.     

Hypothesis testing, power and sample size determination for between group comparisons in fMRI experiments

Modern methods for imaging the human brain, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) present a range of challenging statistical problems. In this paper, we first develop a large sample based test for between group comparisons and use it to determine the necessary sample size in order to obtain a target power via simulation under various alternatives for a given pre-specified significance level. Both testing and sample size calculations are particularly critical for neuroscientists who use these new techniques, since each subject is expensive to image.     

Bayesian autoregressive filter and squared gain estimation

This article describes a Bayesian small sample approach to making inferences for the operator (or filter) and squared gain of a p — th order Gaussian univariate autoregressive process. Simultaneous pos¬terior probability bands are developed for the real and the imaginary parts of the frequency-response function of an autoregressive operator as well as for the squared gain of an autoregressive process.     

The feminine side to Santa Claus. Women's work of kinship in contemporary gift-giving relations

The predominant male-breadwinner model having been surpassed by other forms of household organization, discussion rises on whether the female role of caretaker within households also undergoes change. The question certainly becomes relevant concerning an often less visible and/or overlooked aspect of the caretaker role, which is the ‘work of kinship’. This article looks at a specific aspect of this, which can be considered as even more invisible than other caring tasks: the responsibility for gift exchange. More precisely, we explore women's role in, contribution to and attitude towards the gift-giving process on three domains: the buying, giving and receiving of gifts. Results point to important gender differences: women remain chief responsible for gift selection and gift giving and invest more time in selecting the appropriate gifts for kin. They also show greater satisfaction with the gift-giving process, of which they tend to stress the symbolic value instead of the instrumental value, which is more strongly emphasized by men. This shows that traditional role models endure in an important but often invisible aspect of the work of kinship and more generally of the caretaker role and that these role models also seem to be strongly culturally integrated by men and women.     

Friendship Influences During Early Adolescence: The Special Role of Friends' Grade Point Average

This study examines how a wide variety of diverse friendship group attributes affect changes in indicators of school performance, social behavior, and mental health between early seventh and late eighth grade. Nine hundred and one middle school students named their friends. Independent data from these friends were used to construct friendship groups that were then characterized in terms of their mean level on measures of academic performance, social behavior, psychological closeness, and structure. Two novel conclusions emerge from the study. First, nearly all the friendship effects are domain‐specific. That is, peer attributes in the school domain affect individual school performance outcomes, while peer attributes in the social behavior domain affect individual social behavior. Second, friends' grade point average (GPA) is the most powerful single friendship attribute. It has the largest total effect, the most consistent effects within its own school performance domain, and the sole reliable cross‐domain impact—on an index of negative social behavior that taps into acting out and drug use. The within‐domain peer effects mostly replicate past findings, though the methodological controls used here are more extensive than in past studies and so provide a stronger causal warrant.     

Adaptive Approaches to Biosecurity Governance

This article discusses institutional changes that may facilitate an adaptive approach to biosecurity risk management where governance is viewed as a multidisciplinary, interactive experiment acknowledging uncertainty. Using the principles of adaptive governance, evolved from institutional theory, we explore how the concepts of lateral information flows, incentive alignment, and policy experimentation might shape Australia's invasive species defense mechanisms. We suggest design principles for biosecurity policies emphasizing overlapping complementary response capabilities and the sharing of invasive species risks via a polycentric system of governance.     

Women and Top Leadership Positions: Towards an Institutional Analysis

Women remain under‐represented in top leadership positions in work organizations, a reality that reflects a variety of barriers that create a glass ceiling effect. However, some women do attain top leadership positions, leading scholars to probe under what conditions women are promoted despite seemingly intractable and well‐documented barriers. Previous scholarship tends to posit individual‐level explanations, suggesting either that women who attain top leadership positions are exceptional or that potential women leaders lack key qualities, such as assertiveness. Much less scholarship has explored institutional‐level mechanisms that may increase women's ascension to top positions. This analysis seeks to fill this gap by testing three institutional‐level theories that may shape women's access to and tenure in top positions: the glass cliff, decision‐maker diversity, and the saviour effect. To test these theories we rely on a dataset that includes all CEO transitions in Fortune 500 companies over a 20‐year period. Contrary to the predictions of the glass cliff, we find that diversity among decision makers — not firm performance — significantly increases women's likelihood of being promoted to top leadership positions. We also find, contrary to the predictions of the saviour effect, that diversity among decision makers increases women leaders' tenure as CEOs regardless of firm performance. By identifying contextual factors that increase women's mobility, the paper makes an important contribution to the processes that shape and reproduce gender inequality in work organizations.     

Functional Ability,Neighborhood Resources and Housing Satisfaction among Older Adults in the U.S.

The purpose of this study was to explore neighborhood resources that influence the housing satisfaction of older adults. The study included 10,146 participants from the 2009 panel of the American Housing Survey who were 65 years and older. Hierarchical regression modeling was performed to examine older adults’ perceptions of neighborhood resources and consequently the role these resources play in predicting housing satisfaction among community dwelling and residents of assisted living, controlling for age, sex, ethnicity, education, and housing maintenance. In addition, three levels of physical functioning among residents of assisted living were examined. Results showed that there were differences in housing satisfaction by residences and levels of physical functioning. Subjective evaluations of neighborhoods and the near surrounds were significant predictors of housing satisfaction. Results of the study suggest that policy makers and housing professionals need to continue to consider the role of supportive neighborhoods and social environments in promoting successful aging particularly for frail older adults.     

Using the Summed Rank Cusum for monitoring environmental data from industrial processes

Environmental issues have become a hot topic recently, especially those surrounding industrial outputs. Effluents, emissions, outflows, by-products, waste materials, product de-commissioning, land reclamation and energy consumption are all the subject of monitoring, either under new legislation or through economic necessity. Many types of environmental data are often difficult to understand or measure because of their unusual distribution of values however. Standard methods of monitoring these data types often fail or are unwieldy. The scarcity of events, small volume measurements and the unusual time scales sometimes involved add to the complexity of the task. One recently developed monitoring technique is the Summed Rank Cusum (SRC) that applies non-parametric methods to a standard chart. The SRC can be used diagnostically and this paper describes the application of this new tool to three data sets, each derived from a different problem area. These are measuring industrial effluent, assessing the levels of potentially harmful proteins produced by an industrial process and industrial land reclamation in the face of harmful waste materials. The use of the SRC to spot change points in time retrospectively is described. The paper also shows the use of SRC in the significant-difference testing mode, which is applied via the use of spreadsheets. Links to other similar methods described in the literature are given and formulae describing the statistical nature of the transformation are shown. These practical demonstrations illustrate that the graphical interpretation of the method appears to help considerably in practice when trying to find time-series change points. The charts are an effective graphical retrospective monitoring technique when dealing with non-normal data. The method is easy to apply and may help considerably in dealing with environmental data in the industrial setting when standard methods are not appropriate. Further work is continuing on the more theoretical aspects of the method.