Unbiased estimation of the variance of the Graybill-Deal estimator of the common mean of several normal populations

An identity for the chi-squared distribution is used to derive an unbiased estimator of the variance of the familiar Graybill-Deal (1959) estimator of the common mean of several normal populations with possibly different unknown variances. This result appears to be new. It is observed that the unbiased estimator is a convergent series whose suitable truncation allows unbiased estimation up to any desired degree of accuracy.     

The Cox regression model,random censoring and locally optimal rank tests

Conditions on the hazard functions under the usual log-rank test remains locally optimal for the Cox regression model under random censoring (withdrawal) are examined. In the light of these, the asymptotic efficiency results pertaining to the Cox partial likelihood statistic and the log-rank statistic are studied.     

Global supplier development considering risk factors using fuzzy extended AHP-based approach

Global supplier development is a multi-criterion decision problem which includes both qualitative and quantitative factors. The global supplier selection problem is more complex than domestic one and it needs more critical analysis. The aim of this paper is to identify and discuss some of the important and critical decision criteria including risk factors for the development of an efficient system for global supplier selection. Fuzzy extended analytic hierarchy process (FEAHP) based methodology will be discussed to tackle the different decision criteria like cost, quality, service performance and supplier's profile including the risk factors involved in the selection of global supplier in the current business scenario. FEAHP is an efficient tool to handle the fuzziness of the data involved in deciding the preferences of different decision variables. The linguistic level of comparisons produced by the customers and experts for each comparison are tapped in the form triangular fuzzy numbers to construct fuzzy pair-wise comparison matrices. The implementation of the system is demonstrated by a problem having four stages of hierarchy which contains different criteria and attributes at wider perspective. The proposed model can provide not only a framework for the organization to select the global supplier but also has the capability to deploy the organization's strategy to its supplier.     

Domestic Violence against Men in India: A Perspective

In the absence of any systemic data, with more men coming up and reporting violence by women, it is important to understand and examine the issue of violence against men by women and associated factors. With changing gender roles and power relations, the author predicts that this will increase in the future, which will have far-reaching consequences and implications for the larger society and relationships between men and women. The paper attempts to understand the dynamics and factors that play or will play a crucial role in escalating violence against men by women. The paper is based on author's counseling sessions, discussion with men victims of violence, and other secondary sources.     

Approaching Cultural Change in the Era of Globalisation: An Interview with T.K. Oommen

An exercise in academic signature, 'Is Jew/Greek Greek/Jew : or does 'Hebrew' mean Cross'over?' tries to account for the differential claims on identity when one finds oneself, at the same time, a religious Jew and a university professor specializing in secular texts. What does such a one, in fact, profess? How to negotiate the (mostly figurative) translation of Greek into H ebrew, and H ebrew into Greek, in a m ore than m erely academ ic sense- indeed when 'the academic' offers but one of several competing possibilities for personal and social identities? Preferring a 'Mauriacois' style of narrating the self by reference to the books in one's library, to something more Rousseauistic and chez soi, the author appeals throughout to the w ork of Emmanuel Levinas in a programmatic move that shows how the task of mediation begins of necessity in the sphere of the already-mediated. The 'tightrope, window and text' of the article's subtitle, then represent three tropes around which the problematic of mediated identity is posed. The titular questions, finally, remain less answered than- in Kenneth Burke's signature form ulation- 'danced'.     

Arab-American male identity negotiations: caught in the crossroads of ethnicity,religion, nationality and current contexts

We examine how the identities of male adolescents of Arab descent (ArD) relate to their current physical and phenomenological contexts and to the negative fallout from recent ethnicity-related political events. Seventy-seven ArD adolescents in seven United States middle schools with varying proportions of ArD students participated in focus-group interviews. Qualitative analysis provides evidence that adolescents' social identities depended on complex combinations of personal, situational, and contextual factors. Findings extend Spencer's PVEST theory, demonstrating that the salience of adolescents' national, pan-Arab, hyphenated Arab-American, or assimilated American identity stems from phenomenological experiences within their current context and from the cognitive processes and associated affects of their prior experiences in other proximal and distal contexts.     

Effect of detection methods on risk estimates of exposure to biosolids-associated human enteric viruses

This study illustrates the effect of virus detection methods on estimates of risks of infection of biosolids-associated viruses for occupational workers and residential population during a hypothetical exposure of biosolids. Five gastroenteritis-associated human enteric viruses--enteroviruses (echovirus-12, enteroviruse types 68-71), adenoviruses, rotaviruses, and noroviruses genotype--I-were considered to represent human enteric viruses for risk estimation purposes. Ingested viral doses were calculated using literature-reported total infectious virus concentrations (based on BGM and A549 cell lines) and genome copies (GCs) in Michigan dewatered and class B biosolids. Cell-line-based infectivity parameters (i.e., ratio of total infectious virus concentration to GCs) were developed for different viruses in biosolids to use GCs for calculating ingested viral dose, addressing the issue of integration of molecular methods with biosolids-based virus risk assessment. Use of virus concentrations from molecular methods (with and without using cell-line-based infectivity parameter) resulted in higher risk estimates than culture methods, indicating the effect of the virus detection method on risk estimates. Further, use of virus concentrations from A549 cell lines resulted in higher risk estimates compared to those from BGM cell lines, suggesting the need for a proper choice of cell lines in determining infectious viral dose. The Monte Carlo uncertainty analyses of estimates for risk of infection due to enteroviruses showed that enteroviruses concentration was the most important parameter influencing risk estimates, indicating the need for reducing associated uncertainty. More work is required to develop cell-line-based infectivity parameters for different virus concentration levels and sample matrix types using a cut-off-based approach.     

“What can the Chinese experience of empire tell us about the Belt and Road Initiative?”

Theory and Society - China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI), first announced by President Xi Jinping in 2013, has attracted widespread attention, with much discussion as to its...     

Estimating common standard deviation of two normal populations with ordered means

Independent random samples are taken from two normal populations with means $\mu _1$ and $\mu _2$ and a common unknown variance $\sigma ^2.$ It is known that $\mu _1\le \mu _2.$ In this paper, estimation of the common standard deviation $\sigma $ is considered with respect to a scale invariant loss function. A general minimaxity result is proved and a class of minimax estimators is derived. An admissibility result is proved in this class. Further a class of equivariant estimators with respect to a subgroup of affine group is considered and dominating estimators in this class are obtained. The risk performance of some of these estimators is compared numerically.