Housewife, “gold miss,” and equal: the evolution of educated women’s role in Asia and the U.S.

The fraction of U.S. college graduate women who ever marry has increased relative to less educated women since the mid-1970s. In contrast, college graduate women in developed Asian countries have had decreased rates of marriage, so much so that the term “Gold Misses” has been coined to describe them. This paper argues that the interaction of rapid economic growth in Asia combined with the intergenerational transmission of gender attitudes causes the “Gold Miss” phenomenon. I present a simple dynamic model then test its implications using U.S. and Asian data on marriage and time use.     

Family‐Supportive Organizational Culture and Fathers' Experiences of Work–family Conflict in Sweden

This study explores fathers' experiences with work–family conflict and their perceptions of how supportive the organizational culture at work is regarding fathers' work–family needs, and whether a family‐supportive organizational culture is associated with less work–family conflict. A total of 377 fathers working in private Swedish companies were surveyed. While a modest proportion of fathers experienced high levels of work‐to‐family conflict, less family‐to‐work conflict was reported. Further, fathers perceived little work–family support from top managers, supervisors, and co‐workers. Our results indicate that the cultures in the examined companies have norms that separate work and family from each other. Fathers seem likely to experience work–family conflict as long as the family‐supportive organizational culture, especially at the work group level, is not well‐developed. When fathers experience their work organizations as family‐supportive, they are likely to be better able to combine work and family and thus to help Swedes achieve a more gender‐equal society.     

Operator performance and subjective response in control of flexible manufacturing systems

Abstract

In this study, allocation of functions and system size (number of machines) were manipulated to test their effects on operator performance and subjective response in a flexible manufacturing system (FMS). An experiment was conducted using a cross-over design with three independent variables: number of machines, task allocation, and sequence of task presentation. Operator performance was measured by response time, and subjective response assessed using two questionnaires. Physiological measures were also taken (EKG and respiratory rate). The results revealed that the number of machines in the system did not affect performance or subjective or physiological response while the effect of allocation level was significant for both performance and subjective response.     

Logical independence of the axioms characterizing the degree measure in van den Brink et al. (2008)

Theory and Decision -     

The Effects of Structural Breaks in ARCH and GARCH Parameters on Persistence of GARCH Models

We show that persistence of conditional volatility in large samples could be exaggerated by the existence of structural breaks in the ARCH and GARCH parameters. Our results suggest that extreme persistence frequently observed in index volatility does not necessarily indicate the same level of persistence over the sample period.     

The micro consequences of macro-level social transition: how did Russians survive in the 1990s?

Using panel data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS), we investigate the possible links between the Russian mortality crisis of the 1990s and social transition that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. The results of the analysis demonstrate that Russians’ life chances and their psychological resources and well-being were deteriorated during the transition in the 1990s. The deterioration of life chances and psychological resources and well-being, in conjunction with the high-risk lifestyle of many Russians, increased their risks of dying both directly and indirectly, through a negative impact on their health. This work was completed before the first author started to work in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.     

Measurement errors in continuous-time capture–recapture models

The extent of bias due to measurement errors is an important problem in the context of regression and survival analysis. While research in these areas has been extensive and fruitful, investigations into the effect of measurement errors in capture–recapture models have been very limited. The contributions of this paper are to understand the effects of measurement errors in continuous-time capture–recapture models and to propose new methods to circumvent their impact. We derive asymptotic variance formulas for each method and assess their finite sample properties via simulation studies.     

Localizing Combinatorial Properties for Partitions on Block Graphs

We extend the study on partition properties from the set partition to the graph partition, especially for the class of connected block graphs which includes trees. We introduce seventeen partition properties and determine their inter-relations. The notions of k-consistency and k-sortability were studied in the set partition to localize the properties, i.e., a global property can be verified through checking local conditions. We carry on these studies for partitions on connected block graphs. In particular, we completely determine the consistency for all the seventeen properties.     

APPLICATION OF LAPLACE'S BOUNDARY-MODE APPROXIMATIONS TO ESTIMATE SPECIES AND SHARED SPECIES RICHNESS

The Laplace method for approximating integrals is a useful technique in a number of research fields. This paper shows that it also has interesting applications in biological and ecological statistical inferences. When sample abundance or replicated incidence (i.e., presence or absence) records of each species are available, the expected low‐order frequency counts in heterogeneous communities can be approximated by the Laplace method when the species discovery or detection probabilities are bounded from below by a constant. The approximation formulae as applied to one community can then be used to derive estimators of species richness and to examine their performance. The approach is also extended to obtain simple and new estimators for the number of shared species in two communities. The replicated species incidence data recorded by competing teams of the Hong Kong Big Bird Race for the years 1999 and 2000 are used to estimate the number of resident birds in Hong Kong and to illustrate the method of estimation.