It Takes a Village (Perhaps a Nation): Families,States, and Educational Achievement

Research in the United States has shown that children growing up in 2‐parent households do better in school than children from single‐parent households. We used the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) data to test whether this finding applied to other countries as well (N = 100,307). We found that it did, but that the educational gap was greater in the United States than in the other 13 countries considered. Results from 2‐level hierarchical linear models demonstrated that international differences in the educational gap were associated with several indicators of national policy and demographic contexts. No single policy appeared to have a large effect, but several policy combinations were associated with substantially reduced educational gaps between children from different family structures.     

Experiences of Families Inquiring About Donating or Adopting Embryos: Results of an Online Survey

Four hundred thirty-four individuals who had previously inquired with the National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC) or Nightlight Christian Adoptions about donating or adopting embryos responded to an online survey regarding which issues had been raised with them during their inquiry and how well they perceived NEDC and/or Nightlight had answered their questions regarding those issues. In general, respondents perceived that the operational issues surrounding donating or adopting embryos received more attention than the longer-term issues involving family dynamics and relationships. Overall, the inquirers were pleased with the responses to their questions (average >8 on a satisfaction scale of 1–10).     

The impact of newsroom changes and the rise of social media on the practice of media relations

Recent changes in American media have resulted in direct impacts on the work of PR professionals, from newsroom reductions in traditional media outlets to the rise of social media. This study examines changes in the media relations dynamic with qualitative, in-depth interviews from 12 PR professionals in a medium, eastern U.S. city. Findings include PR professionals doing less traditional media relations, mostly attributable to downsized newsrooms, and frustration with the resulting dearth of institutional knowledge, influx of young, inexperienced reporters, and shallow stories. While participants see opportunities to inject unfiltered messages in media, overall they value reporter relationships and using social media in communication with them and in their job. Although new media are seen as one more task on an already very full PR plate, participants acknowledge their importance and growing relevance. Overall, PR professionals see their and the industry's future including both traditional and new media.     

Cycling of simple rules in the spatial model

McKelvey [4] proved that for strong simple preference aggregation rules applied to multidimensional sets of alternatives, the typical situation is that either the core is nonempty or the top-cycle set includes all available alternatives. But the requirement that the rule be strong excludes, inter alia, all supermajority rules. In this note, we show that McKelvey's theorem further implies that the typical situation for any simple rule is that either the core is nonempty or the weak top-cycle set (equivalently, the core of the transitive closure of the rule) includes all available alternatives. Moreover, it is often the case that both of these statements obtain. Received: 13 October 1997/Accepted: 24 August 1998     

Testing the Significance of Categorical Predictor Variables in Nonparametric Regression Models

In this paper we propose a test for the significance of categorical predictors in nonparametric regression models. The test is fully data-driven and employs cross-validated smoothing parameter selection while the null distribution of the test is obtained via bootstrapping. The proposed approach allows applied researchers to test hypotheses concerning categorical variables in a fully nonparametric and robust framework, thereby deflecting potential criticism that a particular finding is driven by an arbitrary parametric specification. Simulations reveal that the test performs well, having significantly better power than a conventional frequency-based nonparametric test. The test is applied to determine whether OECD and non-OECD countries follow the same growth rate model or not. Our test suggests that OECD and non-OECD countries follow different growth rate models, while the tests based on a popular parametric specification and the conventional frequency-based nonparametric estimation method fail to detect any significant difference.     

Why the Infinite Decision Puzzle is Puzzling

Pulier (2000, Theory and Decision 49: 291) and Machina (2000, Theory and Decision 49: 293) seek to dissolve the Barrett–Arntzenius infinite decision puzzle (1999, Theory and Decision 46: 101). The proposed dissolutions, however, are based on misunderstandings concerning how the puzzle works and the nature of supertasks more generally. We will describe the puzzle in a simplified form, address the recent misunderstandings, and describe possible morals for decision theory.     

Applying State Space to SPC: Monitoring Multivariate Time Series

Monitoring cross-sectional and serially interdependent processes has become a new issue in statistical process control (SPC). In up-to-date SPC literature, Kalman filtering was reported to monitor univariate autocorrelated processes. This paper applies a Kalman filter or state-space method for SPC to monitoring multivariate time series. We use Aoki's approach to estimate the parameter matrices of a state-space model. Multivariate Hotelling T ² control charts are employed to monitor the residuals of the state-space. Examples of this approach are illustrated.