RELAXING ASSUMPTIONS IN THE ONE SAMPLE t-TEST

This paper reviews what is currently known about the behaviour of the t-statistic when one is no longer sampling from a normal distribution. Suppose Y is a batch of data on which the t-test is performed. Briefly then, heavy-tailed components of Y give a light-tailed t , positive correlation among Y gives a heavy-tailed t, and positively skewed components of Y give a negatively skewed t. The emphasis is on understanding why one gets this type of behaviour, although some numerical tables are presented to illustrate the conclusions.     

Managers as Monitors: An Analysis of the Non‐executive Role of Senior Executives in UK Companies

An important aspect of current governance practice is the use of non‐executive directors to monitor the behaviour of company management. This paper examines the extent to which senior executives are utilized as non‐executives in large UK companies. The results suggest that executive directors are not an important source of non‐executive directors. The average number of non‐executive directorships held by each executive is 0.22. Indeed, 85% of executives hold no additional directorships. The holding of non‐executive directorships is positively related to the strength of board monitoring in the executive's company, executive tenure and company size. Executives in companies with greater growth opportunities and operating in regulated industries are less likely to hold non‐executive directorships.     

Why People Believe They Were Exposed to Biological or Chemical Warfare: A Survey of Gulf War Veterans

The study sought to understand better how people come to believe they have been exposed to biological and chemical warfare. We conducted telephone interviews with 1,009 American veterans (65% response rate) deployed and not deployed to the Gulf War, a conflict during which there were credible threats that such warfare could be used. Only 6% of non-Gulf War veterans reported exposure to biological or chemical warfare, but most of Gulf War veterans reported exposure (64%). The majority of these were unsure whether the exposure was chemical or biological in nature. The most commonly reported exposure indicators were receiving an alert from the military and having physical symptoms. Veterans who were certain of the type of exposure (biological or chemical) were more likely to recall having been told by the military and to recall physical symptoms. Future communications with soldiers and the general public about biological and chemical warfare may need to emphasize the uncertain nature of such risk information. Evaluations of exposure diagnostic technologies should take into account the problem of people initially believing, but not later discounting, false positive results.     

Destabilizing Science From the Right: The Rhetoric of Heterosexual Victimhood in the World Health Organization's 2008 HIV/AIDS Controversy

This article examines the 2008 World Health Organization/Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS controversy through original reports and media coverage. Analysis reveals that discourse rhetorically exonerates heterosexuals from HIV/AIDS while reifying homophobic and morally righteous ideology about HIV/AIDS and homosexuality. Discourses of “fraudulent science,” “heterosexual absence,” and reverse victimization destabilize meaning of HIV/AIDS and heterosexuality. “AIDS,” “heterosexuality,” and even victimhood and minority status were destabilized and resignified in a rhetoric that benefited from its status as science even as it rendered past science suspect as ideological.     

Individually-Tailored Support for Ethnically-Diverse Caregivers: Enhancing Our Understanding of What Is Needed and What Works

Family caregivers play a crucial role in maintaining older adults in the community, often at great cost to themselves. We discuss a program serving ethnically-diverse caregivers in New York, offering, on average, 11 case-management hr per client. Participants reported statistically significantly reduced stress and burden. Respite was the most requested service, belying an assumption underlying policies and services that families, particularly among minority populations, can and will care for their older members. Thus, services must be carefully tailored to meet actual caregiver needs, including provision of alternatives that reduce caregiver involvement. We discuss practice and policy implications.     

Constructing Unemployment: Britain and France in Historical Perspective

Unemployment emerged as a specific social issue in the late‐19th century, but the nature of the threat it posed and the governing instruments available to address it varied widely. Using Britain and France as strongly contrasting cases, this article demonstrates the variable and historically contingent constructions of unemployment as a problem, and demonstrates how policy to address it was developed using administrative agencies that embodied specific, normative visions of how society and employment should operate. The different governing trajectories through which the issue was tackled is analyzed in terms of the context within which the problem of unemployment originally emerged. The article demonstrates the socio‐political nature of unemployment's construction and, with reference to recent labour market change, questions its utility as a means of assessing economic or social well‐being.     

Empirical Likelihood in a Semi-Parametric Model for Missing Response Data

Let Y be a response and, given covariate X,Y has a conditional density f(y | x, θ), where θ is a unknown p-dimensional vector of parameters and the marginal distribution of X is unknown. When responses are missing at random, with auxiliary information and imputation, we define an adjusted empirical log-likelihood ratio for the mean of Y and obtain its asymptotic distribution. A simulation study is conducted to compare the adjusted empirical log-likelihood and the normal approximation method in terms of coverage accuracies.