How Nuclear-Weapon States Parties to the Non-proliferation Treaty Understand Nuclear Disarmament

Disarmament measures included in the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) are, for most of the nuclear-weapon states, an objective to be reached in a very long-term. Based on this position, the current nuclear-weapon states parties to the NPT believe that they do not have to show, at this stage, the necessary political will to begin the nuclear disarmament process at the multilateral level and under international supervision, as requested so many times by the international community on the basis of article VI of the NPT. For this reason, all of them are in the process of modernising their nuclear weapons arsenals, ignoring their commitments and obligations as NPT states parties.     

Live together: does culture matter?

Review of Economics of the Household - This paper studies the role of culture in determining the decision to live together (as a married or unmarried couple). To examine this issue, we utilize data...     

Sexual prejudice among Puerto Rican young adults

Sexual prejudice is linked to hate crimes, mental health, risk behaviors, and stigma. Few studies have examined sexual prejudice among Latinos. We surveyed 382 college students in Puerto Rico. A structural model tested whether contact and positive experiences with homosexuals, perceived similarities with peers' attitudes toward homosexuality, and religiosity were predictive of sexual prejudice among Puerto Rican young adults. Sex differences in the structural model were explored. With the exception of peers' attitudes toward homosexuality, all study variables predict sexual prejudice. No sex differences were found. Implications for decreasing sexual prejudice among Puerto Rican youth in a college setting are discussed.     

Rényi Statistics in Directed Families of Exponential Experiments*

Rényi statistics are considered in a directed family of general exponential models. These statistics are defined as Rényi distances between estimated and hypothetical model. An asymptotically quadratic approximation to the Rényi statistics is established, leading to similar asymptotic distribution results as established in the literature for the likelihood ratio statistics. Some arguments in favour of the Rényi statistics are discussed, and a numerical comparison of the Rényi goodness-of-fit tests with the likelihood ratio test is presented.     

Rényi statistics for testing composite hypotheses in general exponential models

We introduce a family of Rényi statistics of orders r?∈?R for testing composite hypotheses in general exponential models, as alternatives to the previously considered generalized likelihood ratio (GLR) statistic and generalized Wald statistic. If appropriately normalized exponential models converge in a specific sense when the sample size (observation window) tends to infinity, and if the hypothesis is regular, then these statistics are shown to be χ²-distributed under the hypothesis. The corresponding Rényi tests are shown to be consistent. The exact sizes and powers of asymptotically α-size Rényi, GLR and generalized Wald tests are evaluated for a concrete hypothesis about a bivariate Lévy process and moderate observation windows. In this concrete situation the exact sizes of the Rényi test of the order r?=?2 practically coincide with those of the GLR and generalized Wald tests but the exact powers of the Rényi test are on average somewhat better.     

Large sample behavior of entropy measures when parameters are estimated

In this paper, we study the asymptotic behavior of (h,π)-entropy statistics when the parameters are replaced by some consistent and asymptotically normal (CAN) estimates. In the case of stratified sampling, asymptotic distribution is obtained and the optimum allocation is derived for a fixed cost and for a fixed variance. Some tests of hypotheses are constructed on the basis of these asymptotic distributions and a numerical example is presented.     

Career,Culture, and Compromise: Career Development Experiences of Latinas Working in Higher Education

The purpose of this exploratory ethnographic research project was to investigate the career development experiences of Latinas employed in counseling and faculty positions in higher education. The research reveals strong images of an inhospitable and nonsupportive place to work and suggests that Latina women are inhibited from achieving the same levels of success as men or other women in higher education. Implications for career development practitioners are provided.     

Oral Abstracts

Hypogonadism is associated with a range of disease states that have significant effects on morbidity and mortality, and also affect quality of life. The ESPRIT study (Energy, Sexual desire and body PropoRtions wIth AndroGel®, Testosterone 1% gel therapy) is a 6-month, multinational, open label, observational study in hypogonadal men being treated with transdermal AndroGel® in usual daily clinical practice; 1,700–2,400 patients will be enrolled in Canada, Germany, Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and the Middle East. The main objective will be to evaluate the effect of AndroGel® on symptoms of hypogonadism and quality of life as assessed by the Aging Males' Symptoms scale. Further objectives include evaluating the effect and time to onset of improvement in erectile dysfunction and libido/sexual desire (International Index of Erectile Function), fatigue (Multi-dimensional Fatigue Index) and body composition (waist circumference, body mass index). Subgroup analyses will be performed: <50 years versus ≥ 50 years; absence versus presence of metabolic syndrome. The safety of AndroGel® will also be assessed. The study population will consist of newly diagnosed hypogonadal men (age ≥ 18 years), in whom testosterone deficiency has been confirmed by clinical features and biochemical tests according to international guidelines, who are currently being prescribed AndroGel® (testosterone 1% gel, starting dose 50 mg testosterone per day).     

The IAEA, the NPT and the VIII NPT Review Conference

Since the end of World War II the international community has been building, step by step and with many difficulties, the nuclear weapon non-proliferation regime. The purpose of this regime is the prevention of the proliferation of this type of weaponry and to achieve, as one of their final goal, the complete elimination of all nuclear weapons and the closure of all nuclear weapon production facilities or the conversion of these facilities for their exclusively use with peaceful purposes in the future. Despite all efforts made by the majority of the international community, the world still is far from achieving this important objective. This article offers to the international community a group of actions for the strengthening of the nuclear weapon non-proliferation regime and for the beginning of multilateral negotiations towards nuclear disarmament.     

The VIII NPT Review Conference: A Successful or Failure Event?

In August 1945, the United States dropped two nuclear bombs against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki initiating the so-called “nuclear era”. Some years later, the number of countries possessing this terrible weapon increased to five. Today, eight or nine countries are in possession of such destructive weapons. What has done by the international community to stop the proliferation of such deadly weapon? The international community began in the 1950s the consideration of specific measures with the purpose of impeding further the proliferation of nuclear weapons and, at appropriate time, to begin the destruction of all nuclear weapons in a defined period at multilateral level and under international supervision. After so many years of efforts in this direction, these two important objectives have not been still reached. This paper analyses each one of the main outcomes of the VIII NPT Review Conference and recommend specific actions to be implemented by all NPT State parties in order not only to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons but to destroy them.