Gambling and Adverse Life Events Among Urban Adolescents

This study explored the cross sectional association between adverse life events and gambling in a sample of 515 urban adolescents (average age 17, 55% male, 88% African American). Approximately half of the sample had gambled in the past year (51%); 78% of the gamblers gambled monthly and 39% had a gambling-related problem. On the other hand, 88% of the sample had experienced at least one life event in the past year, and those experiencing events tended to live in more disadvantaged neighborhoods. The mere acknowledgement of experiencing a stressful life event in the past year (yes/no) was not associated with an increase in odds of being a gambler, with gambling more frequently, or with having a gambling problem. However, when the context of the event was considered, an association was found between directly experiencing threatening and deviant/violent types of events and frequent gambling (OR > 2). Additionally, the probability of being a gambler increased as the number of events experienced increased (aOR = 1.07, 95% CI = 1.01, 1.13, P = 0.013), but problems among gamblers were not associated with the number of events experienced (aOR = 1.01, 95% CI = 0.92, 1.11, P = 0.876). During adolescence, life events appear to be connected more with the frequency of gambling rather than with problems related to gambling.     

Bayesian networks of customer satisfaction survey data

A Bayesian network (BN) is a probabilistic graphical model that represents a set of variables and their probabilistic dependencies. Formally, BNs are directed acyclic graphs whose nodes represent variables, and whose arcs encode the conditional dependencies among the variables. Nodes can represent any kind of variable, be it a measured parameter, a latent variable, or a hypothesis. They are not restricted to represent random variables, which form the “Bayesian” aspect of a BN. Efficient algorithms exist that perform inference and learning in BNs. BNs that model sequences of variables are called dynamic BNs. In this context, [A. Harel, R. Kenett, and F. Ruggeri, Modeling web usability diagnostics on the basis of usage statistics, in Statistical Methods in eCommerce Research, W. Jank and G. Shmueli, eds., Wiley, 2008] provide a comparison between Markov Chains and BNs in the analysis of web usability from e-commerce data. A comparison of regression models, structural equation models, and BNs is presented in Anderson et al. [R.D. Anderson, R.D. Mackoy, V.B. Thompson, and G. Harrell, A bayesian network estimation of the service–profit Chain for transport service satisfaction, Decision Sciences 35(4), (2004), pp. 665–689]. In this article we apply BNs to the analysis of customer satisfaction surveys and demonstrate the potential of the approach. In particular, BNs offer advantages in implementing models of cause and effect over other statistical techniques designed primarily for testing hypotheses. Other advantages include the ability to conduct probabilistic inference for prediction and diagnostic purposes with an output that can be intuitively understood by managers.     

Credit risk assessment with Bayesian model averaging

Many credit risk models are based on the selection of a single logistic regression model, on which to base parameter estimation. When many competing models are available, and without enough guidance from economical theory, model averaging represents an appealing alternative to the selection of single models. Despite model averaging approaches have been present in statistics for many years, only recently they are starting to receive attention in economics and finance applications. This contribution shows how Bayesian model averaging can be applied to credit risk estimation, a research area that has received a great deal of attention recently, especially in the light of the global financial crisis of the last few years and the correlated attempts to regulate international finance. The paper considers the use of logistic regression models under the Bayesian Model Averaging paradigm. We argue that Bayesian model averaging is not only more correct from a theoretical viewpoint, but also slightly superior, in terms of predictive performance, with respect to single selected models.     

Box–Cox symmetric distributions and applications to nutritional data

AStA Advances in Statistical Analysis - We introduce and study the Box–Cox symmetric class of distributions, which is useful for modeling positively skewed, possibly heavy-tailed, data. The...     

Musculoskeletal symptoms and work ability among agricultural machinery operators

Those subjects whose employment has physical demands present more frequently musculoskeletal symptoms than others. The agricultural sector activities include tasks with important physical demands that may have a negative impact in the workers health. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of musculoskeletal symptoms and its association with work ability in agricultural machinery operators. It is a cross-sectional study. The participants (n = 204) answered a self-administered questionnaire on demographics, work and lifestyle characteristics, Work Ability Index and the Nordic Musculoskeletal Symptoms Questionnaire. The response rate was 89.78%. The mean age of the workers was 32.3 years, and 47.1% of them reported musculoskeletal symptoms at least one body part over the past 12 months. Those subjects who presented work ability index <37 points, 87.5% reported some kind of musculoskeletal symptom. This study showed that the work ability was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) correlated to musculoskeletal symptoms presence. It is recommended that measures to promote and improve the work ability are designed and deployed based on musculoskeletal disorders prevention.     

Honesty and Dishonesty Don’t Move Together: Trait Content Information Influences Behavioral Synchrony

Emerging evidence revealed that honesty and trustworthiness are important drivers of the impression-formation process. Questions remain, however, regarding the role of these moral attributes in guiding real and concrete behaviors. Filling this gap, the present study investigated the influence of honesty on a nonverbal behavior that regulates social interactions: behavioral synchrony. Movements were recorded while participants interacted with a partner who was depicted as honest (versus dishonest) or as friendly (versus unfriendly). Results showed that synchrony was affected only by the honesty of the partner. Specifically, the more the interaction partner lacked honesty, the lower the perceived similarity between the self and the interaction partner, which in turn diminished the promptness to engage in behavioral synchrony. Our findings connected the literature on behavioral synchrony with that on the implication of morality for social perception, revealing the key role of the honesty facet of moral character in shaping nonverbal behaviors.     

Folate: a possible role in erectile dysfunction?

A growing body of evidence suggests a role for homocysteine (Hcys) and folate (FA) in erectile function (EF): Hcys appears to impair EF affecting endothelium via several mechanism whereas the role of FA remains to be elucidated, besides decreasing Hcys. To assess correlation between erectile dysfunction (ED) and serum levels of FA, Hcys, and B12, we enrolled 31 patients affected by ED (Group A; age 52.83?±?11.89 years) and 31 healthy adults (Group B; age 49.14?±?13.63 years). Fasting blood samples were taken for each subject. ED was assessed by the International Index of Erectile Function-5 (IIEF-5). IIEF-5 mean score was significantly lower in Group A than in Group B (10.71?±?4.24 versus 23.32?±?1.33, p?p?p?相似文献   

Erratum to: Equivalence scales,the cost of children and household consumption patterns in Italy

This article deals with the estimation of parametric equivalence scales for Italian households with different demographic characteristics: composition, location and number of employed members in the household. Using a sample of 43,701 observations on monthly current expenditures from 1997 to 2004 we estimate a demand system for ten goods and we tackle the problem of corner solutions for some goods adopting the Two Step estimator proposed by Shonkweiler and Yen (Am J Agric Econ 81:972–982, 1999). The consumption behavior of households is also analyzed calculating compensated, uncompensated and expenditure elasticites for each commodity. By considering households that differ in composition (number of children), geographic location (four-different macro-areas of Italy), and number of employed adults, we allow for a range of useful comparisons.     

The family of cost monotonic and cost additive rules in minimum cost spanning tree problems

In this article, we define a new family of rules in minimum cost spanning tree problems related with Kruskal’s algorithm. We characterize this family with a cost monotonicity property and a cost additivity property.     

Metropolitan Governance: Which Policies for Globalizing Cities?

Today, for the first time in history, half the world’s people live in cities. This puts metropolitan areas to the test, especially in developing countries, where the greatest part of urban growth is occurring. In order to meet the new challenges linked to urbanization, today’s growing cities need appropriate metropolitan governance. The present paper wants to investigate this issue, through the definition of a general model of metropolitan governance, which can be adapted to every urbanization context according to its own specificities. Considerable emphasis will be given to concrete examples to test the consistency of our model. In particular, since water and sanitation supply is one of the key challenges affecting metropolitan areas, we will apply our model to urban water management. Furthermore, an important focus will be given to the contribution that Information and Communication Technologies can provide to the implementation of the model.