Rényi entropy of m-generalized order statistics

Abstract

Characterizing relations via Rényi entropy of m-generalized order statistics are considered along with examples and related stochastic orderings. Previous results for common order statistics are included.     

Make or buy? That’s the question!

The author discusses the question if and in which HR processes, tools or programs the implementation of an internal coach pool makes sense or where companies should continue to buy this service from the external market. For this purpose the article introduces a definition of internal Coaching. The central concept of this outline is a blueprint of an offering of internal or external coaching. The author presents a generic model for the analyzing the risks of such a project, which increases the probability of a decision which leads in the right direction. The author concludes that internal coaching makes sense in specific settings e.g. in order to ensure the ROI of learning opportunities. If this however in every situation has to be called “Coaching” should be discussed in the context of another essay.     

The fertility contribution of Mexican immigration to the United States

Crucial to the long-term contribution of immigration to a receiving country's population is the extent to which the immigrants reproduce themselves in subsequent, native-born generations. Using conventional projection methodologies, this fertility contribution may be poorly estimated primarily because of problems in projecting the number of immigrants who are at risk of childbearing. We propose an alternative method that obviates the need to project the number of immigrants by using the full sending-country birth cohort as the risk group to project their receiving-country childbearing. This "sending-country birth cohort" method is found to perform dramatically better than conventional methods when projecting to 1999 from base years both before and after the large increase in inflows of Mexican immigrants to the United States in the late 1980s. Projecting forward from 1999, we estimate a cumulative contribution of Mexican immigrant fertility from the 1980s to 2040 of 36 million births, including 25% to 50% more births after 1995 than are projected using conventional methods.     

What is it like to work for a pharmaceutical company? Interview by Barbara J. Linney

Is working for a pharmaceutical company a career option you've thought about pursuing? In this column, Barbara Linney interviews physician executive Edward A. Kaufman, MD, about his 20-year experience working in the pharmaceutical industry. He talks about how he held a series of jobs for SmithKline Beecham's clinical labs business and lived in a number of places. He describes his background and how it made him an attractive candidate for the position, why he sought out the pharmaceutical industry, the nature of the work, and some of the projects that he has been involved in. He gives examples of physicians who have joined the executive ranks at GlaxoSmithKline and what made them such high-caliber candidates for top leadership positions.     

A Probabilistic Framework for Risk Analysis of Widespread Flood Events: A Proof‐of‐Concept Study

This article presents a flood risk analysis model that considers the spatially heterogeneous nature of flood events. The basic concept of this approach is to generate a large sample of flood events that can be regarded as temporal extrapolation of flood events. These are combined with cumulative flood impact indicators, such as building damages, to finally derive time series of damages for risk estimation. Therefore, a multivariate modeling procedure that is able to take into account the spatial characteristics of flooding, the regionalization method top‐kriging, and three different impact indicators are combined in a model chain. Eventually, the expected annual flood impact (e.g., expected annual damages) and the flood impact associated with a low probability of occurrence are determined for a study area. The risk model has the potential to augment the understanding of flood risk in a region and thereby contribute to enhanced risk management of, for example, risk analysts and policymakers or insurance companies. The modeling framework was successfully applied in a proof‐of‐concept exercise in Vorarlberg (Austria). The results of the case study show that risk analysis has to be based on spatially heterogeneous flood events in order to estimate flood risk adequately.     

Safeguarding young people from cyber pornography and cyber sexual predation: a major dilemma of the internet

Over the past 20 years, the internet has provided an expedient mode of communication and access to a wealth of information. The internet is a valuable tool; however, it can also be detrimental to the wellbeing of children due to numerous online hazards. There is the potential for children to be abused via cyberspace through online sexual solicitation and access to pornography. Indeed, the internet is replete with inappropriate material, including pornography, chatrooms with adult themes and access to instant messaging wherein others could misrepresent themselves. Because children are actively utilizing the internet where unknown others can have access to them or where they can be exposed to inappropriate sexual materials, they require safeguarding and education in safe internet use. The purpose of this article is to provide a discussion of how to safeguard children from and educate them about online sexual solicitation and pornography. We contend that society needs an overall conceptual shift in its attitude towards young people's internet use. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.