English perceptions of elder abuse

The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate an English sample's perceptions on elder abuse, inflicted by adult children against their aging parents. Fifty participants (14 males, 46 females) provided examples of extreme, moderate, and mild elder abuse. As examples of extreme abuse, most participants mentioned neglect and physical aggression. Various forms of neglect and psychological abuse were their most common examples of moderate and mild abuse. References to physical aggression appeared most often as examples of extreme abuse rather than of moderate or mild abuse. Within these main categories, the specific subtypes most frequently mentioned by the sample included physical neglect, psychological neglect, verbal abuse, and deprivation. More females than males provided examples of financial abuse and physical neglect. Females were also more likely than males to list psychological neglect as an extreme form of abuse and disrespect as a form of mild abuse. At the moderate level, males referred to abuse relating to power more often than females. A positive relationship was found between age and the number of examples of physical neglect given at the moderate level and the number of examples of emotional abuse given at the mild level.     

Impact of an infusion model on social work students' aging knowledge, attitudes, and interests

This study sought to provide data regarding the use of infusion of gerontological materials throughout curriculums to enhance students' attitudes toward older adults, their knowledge of aging-related issues, and their perceptions of gerontological social work. A quasi-experimental design was used to compare outcomes for graduate social work students who were and those who were not exposed to gerontological infusion. Results indicated that exposed students experienced a greater improvement in their view of aging-related career opportunities and in their belief in the importance of gerontological social work. Treatment group students also showed greater gains in self-rated aging knowledge. Both treatment and control group students had significant gains in a test of aging-related knowledge. Pedagogical implications are discussed.     

Robustness of Approaches to ROC Curve Modeling under Misspecification of the Underlying Probability Model

A variety of statistical regression models have been proposed for the comparison of ROC curves for different markers across covariate groups. Pepe developed parametric models for the ROC curve that induce a semiparametric model for the market distributions to relax the strong assumptions in fully parametric models. We investigate the analysis of the power ROC curve using these ROC-GLM models compared to the parametric exponential model and the estimating equations derived from the usual partial likelihood methods in time-to-event analyses. In exploring the robustness to violations of distributional assumptions, we find that the ROC-GLM provides an extra measure of robustness.     

Inference from the Exponentiated Weibull Model with Applications to Real Data

In this paper, a novel Bayesian framework is used to derive the posterior density function, predictive density for a single future response, a bivariate future response, and several future responses from the exponentiated Weibull model (EWM). We study three related types of models, the exponentiated exponential, exponentiated Weibull, and beta generalized exponential, which are all utilized to determine the goodness of fit of two real data sets. The statistical analysis indicates that the EWM best fits both data sets. We determine the predictive means, standard deviations, highest predictive density intervals, and the shape characteristics for a single future response. We also consider a new parameterization method to determine the posterior kernel densities for the parameters. The summary results of the parameters are calculated by using the Markov chain Monte Carlo method.     

A Survey of the Teaching of Statistics in M.B.A. Programs

A survey of business schools was conducted to obtain information about the current state of the teaching of business statistics to students enrolled in M.B.A. degree programs. The survey was undertaken for and presented at a June 1986 conference on “Making Statistics More Effective in Schools of Business,” held at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business. Information was elicited concerning both the required statistics sequence and elective statistics courses for M.B.A. students, as well as computer usage in these courses. This article summarizes the information obtained from the survey.     

Small-Sample Methods for Cluster-Robust Variance Estimation and Hypothesis Testing in Fixed Effects Models

ABSTRACT

In panel data models and other regressions with unobserved effects, fixed effects estimation is often paired with cluster-robust variance estimation (CRVE) to account for heteroscedasticity and un-modeled dependence among the errors. Although asymptotically consistent, CRVE can be biased downward when the number of clusters is small, leading to hypothesis tests with rejection rates that are too high. More accurate tests can be constructed using bias-reduced linearization (BRL), which corrects the CRVE based on a working model, in conjunction with a Satterthwaite approximation for t-tests. We propose a generalization of BRL that can be applied in models with arbitrary sets of fixed effects, where the original BRL method is undefined, and describe how to apply the method when the regression is estimated after absorbing the fixed effects. We also propose a small-sample test for multiple-parameter hypotheses, which generalizes the Satterthwaite approximation for t-tests. In simulations covering a wide range of scenarios, we find that the conventional cluster-robust Wald test can severely over-reject while the proposed small-sample test maintains Type I error close to nominal levels. The proposed methods are implemented in an R package called clubSandwich. This article has online supplementary materials.     

Super Searchers Go to the Source: The Interviewing and Hands-on Information Strategies of Top Primary Researchers—Online,on the Phone,and in Person

Abstract

OCLC recently announced a plan to implement MARC 21 Format for Holdings Data (MFHD) and invited holdings experts Frieda Rosenberg and Diane Hillmann to serve as advisors and to aid in the implementation process. In December 2004, Jian Wang interviewed Rosenberg and Hillmann. They discuss their longtime involvement with the holdings standard and provide interesting perspectives on the issues, challenges, and benefits for the constituencies (libraries, the serials community, system vendors, and bibliographic utilities) involved with and responsible for implementing and using MFHD.     

Reviews

Abstract

Elizabeth Parang reviews Reengineering the Library: Issues in Electronic Resources Management. Scott Johnson reviews Academic Library Management: Case Studies.     

On estimation and diagnostics analysis in log-generalized gamma regression model for interval-censored data

The interval-censored survival data appear very frequently, where the event of interest is not observed exactly but it is only known to occur within some time interval. In this paper, we propose a location-scale regression model based on the log-generalized gamma distribution for modelling interval-censored data. We shall be concerned only with parametric forms. The proposed model for interval-censored data represents a parametric family of models that has, as special submodels, other regression models which are broadly used in lifetime data analysis. Assuming interval-censored data, we consider a frequentist analysis, a Jackknife estimator and a non-parametric bootstrap for the model parameters. We derive the appropriate matrices for assessing local influence on the parameter estimates under different perturbation schemes and present some techniques to perform global influence.     

Consideration of the Aerosol Transmission for COVID-19 and Public Health

This article analyzes the available evidence to address airborne, aerosol transmission of the SARS-CoV-2. We review and present three lines of evidence: case reports of transmission for asymptomatic individuals in association with studies that show that normal breathing and talking produce predominantly small droplets of the size that are subject to aerosol transport; limited empirical data that have recorded aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 particles that remain suspended in the air for hours and are subject to transport over distances including outside of rooms and intrabuilding, and the broader literature that further supports the importance of aerosol transmission of infectious diseases. The weight of the available evidence warrants immediate attention to address the significance of aerosols and implications for public health protection.