Sexual fantasies about one's partner versus someone else: Gender differences in incidence and frequency

Gender differences in the proportion of sexual fantasies involving someone other than a current partner (extradyadic fantasies) were explored using an anonymous questionnaire administered to 349 university students and employees (ages 18 to 70) who reported that they were currently in heterosexual relationships. Eighty‐seven percent of the sample (98% of men and 80% of women) reported having extradyadic fantasies in the past 2 months. A hierarchical regression analysis revealed that, compared to women, a larger percentage of men's sexual fantasies were extradyadic even after controlling for the effects of relationship length, number of prior sex partners, any prior incidents of actual extradyadic sexual behavior or “cheating” on the current partner, and socioeconomic status. In addition, it was found that the proportion of extradyadic fantasies increased as a function of relationship length for both genders, while prior incidents of extradyadic sexual behavior and a larger number of prior partners were associated with a higher proportion of extradyadic fantasies for women only.     

Comments on Daniel A. Seiver's ‘Recent fertility in Mexico: Measurement and Interpretation.’

In a recent article in this Journal,¹Daniel A. Seiver concludes that ‘fertility’ in Mexico did not decline between 1960 and 1970. His conclusion is based primarily on an increase in the child-woman ratio from 725 per 1,000 in 1960 to 762 in 1970. Seiver simply asserts that this increase cannot be completely explained by declining infant mortality and under-enumeration. ² Ibid, p 343. . ³ Ibid, p 351.      

Measuring Subjective Well-Being and its Potential Role in Policy: Perspectives from the UK Office for National Statistics

Measures of subjective well-being are one component of the measurement of the quality of life and progress of a nation. The Office for National Statistics approach, as part of the Measuring National Well-being programme, has been to include such measures alongside more objective measures in order to gain a full picture of “how things are going” and to better inform public policy. These estimates are considered experimental and further testing and development is underway. However, it is argued that subjective well-being measures have a potential role in the policy process and this article considers how they could be used in policy making within the UK.     

Applying designed experiments to optimize the performance of genetic algorithms used for scheduling complex products in the capital goods industry

Conventional optimization approaches, such as Linear Programming, Dynamic Programming and Branch-and-Bound methods are well established for solving relatively simple scheduling problems. Algorithms such as Simulated Annealing, Taboo Search and Genetic Algorithms (GA) have recently been applied to large combinatorial problems. Owing to the complex nature of these problems it is often impossible to search the whole problem space and an optimal solution cannot, therefore, be guaranteed. A BiCriteria Genetic Algorithm (BCGA) has been developed for the scheduling of complex products with multiple resource constraints and deep product structure. This GA identifies and corrects infeasible schedules and takes account of the early supply of components and assemblies, late delivery of final products and capacity utilization. The research has used manufacturing data obtained from a capital goods company. Genetic Algorithms include a number of parameters, including the probabilities of crossover and mutation, the population size and the number of generations. The BCGA scheduling tool provides 16 alternative crossover operations and eight different mutation mechanisms. The overall objective of this study was to develop an efficient design-of-experiments approach to identify genetic algorithm operators and parameters that produce solutions with minimum total cost. The case studies were based upon a complex, computationally intensive scheduling problem that was insoluble using conventional approaches. This paper describes an efficient sequential experimental strategy that enabled this work to be performed within a reasonable time. The first stage was a screening experiment, which had a fractional factorial embedded within a half Latin-square design. The second stage was a half-fraction design with a reduced number of GA operators. The results are compared with previous studies. It is demonstrated that, in this case, improved GA performance was achieved using the experimental strategy proposed. The appropriate genetic operators and parameters may be case specific, leading to the view that experimental design may be the best way to proceed when finding the ‘best’ combination of GA operators and parameters.     

An analysis of factors affecting attitudes toward same-sex marriage: do the media matter?

Using a survey of more than 5,000 American consumers, this study examines connections between attitudes toward same-sex marriage and media consumption. A positive attitude is predicted by being liberal and less religious, supporting gender and racial equality, willing to try anything once, considering television the primary form of entertainment, watching political talk shows, and reading blogs. The theoretical and methodological contributions and real-world implications of these findings are discussed.     

Public attitudes toward gays and lesbians: trends and predictors

Public opinion about gay men and lesbians is a popular topic in both the popular press and academic journals. However, analyses of attitudinal trends are rare. Tracing changes in opinion polls on homosexuals in the United States between 1977 and 2003, the first part of the present study showed that public opinion of this minority group has become more positive over time. Part two of this research utilized a recent national survey to identify factors predicting anti-gay attitudes. The best predictors included respondents' sex, stance of anti-abortion and anti-women's equality, and religiosity. Implications for gay rights advocates were discussed.