Prevalence of Sexually Abusive Experiences in Childhood and Adolescence Among a Community Sample of Latinas: A Descriptive Study

This study examined the prevalence, severity, and circumstances of self-reported sexually coercive and abusive experiences in childhood and adolescence in a community sample of Latina women (N?=?204) ages 18 to 34 years. Results from structured phone interviews indicated that 35%?of the women reported experiencing some form of sexual abuse, 31%?of the reported perpetrators were family members, and 52%?were boyfriends, friends, or acquaintances. Of those who reported an abusive experience, 44%?had not disclosed the abuse to anyone; for those who did disclose, 74%?reported feeling supported. Findings highlight the importance of including peer and dating-partner abuse in the assessment of CSA and the necessity for outreach to Latina women who may have never disclosed their experiences of abuse.     

On a nonlinear Birnbaum–Saunders model based on a bivariate construction and its characteristics

Abstract

The Birnbaum-Saunders (BS) distribution is an asymmetric probability model that is receiving considerable attention. In this article, we propose a methodology based on a new class of BS models generated from the Student-t distribution. We obtain a recurrence relationship for a BS distribution based on a nonlinear skew–t distribution. Model parameters estimators are obtained by means of the maximum likelihood method, which are evaluated by Monte Carlo simulations. We illustrate the obtained results by analyzing two real data sets. These data analyses allow the adequacy of the proposed model to be shown and discussed by applying model selection tools.     

Migradollars: The remittances and savings of Mexican migrants to the USA

In this article, we use new data from 22 communities to estimate the total flow of dollars back into Mexico as a result of migration to the United States. Our estimates include remittances sent while working abroad and money brought back on return trips; they incorporate transfers by temporary as well as permanent US workers; they include money transferred by legal as well as illegal migrants; and they include funds sent or brought by household heads as well as other family members. We estimate that US$ 24 million in migradollars flowed into the sample communities during the survey year. In some places, the flow of US money equalled or exceeded the value of locally earned income. When generalized to all of Western Mexico, our sample suggests a regional flow of US$ 1.5 billion; and when our data are inserted into an estimation model developed earlier by Lozano Ascencio, we estimate the total flow at US$ 2 billion for Mexico as a whole. Although most of this money was spent on consumption, investments in productive activities were significant, and directly or indirectly, we conclude that migradollars play an extremely important role in Mexican economic production.This article is based on a paper, presented at the University of Chicago, 8 October 1993.     

Poisson-mixed Inverse Gaussian Regression Model and Its Application

In this article, we have developed a Poisson-mixed inverse Gaussian (PMIG) distribution. The mixed inverse Gaussian distribution is a mixture of the inverse Gaussian distribution and its length-biased counterpart. A PMIG regression model is developed and the maximum likelihood estimation of the parameters is studied. A dataset dealing with the number of hospital stays among the elderly population is analyzed by using the PMIG and the PIG (Poisson-inverse Gaussian) regression models and it has been shown that the PMIG model fits the data better than the PIG model.     

Complements or substitutes? The contingent role of corporate reputation on the interplay between internal R&D and external knowledge sourcing

Existing research does not provide a clear answer to the question of whether internal knowledge development and external knowledge sourcing are complementary or substitutive innovation activities. This paper adopts a contingent approach for addressing this issue by examining whether and how the interactive effect of internal R&D efforts and external knowledge sourcing on product innovation performance may be affected by the firm’s corporate reputation. In doing so, a three-way interaction model is applied to a sample of 251 Spanish high-technology manufacturing firms. Interestingly, initial results support the substitutive argument: the positive effect of internal R&D on product innovation performance diminishes as the exposure to external knowledge increases. However, in well reputed companies, interaction becomes positive, revealing a complementary effect. Thus, the study extends the traditional approach focused on determining whether internal and external knowledge sourcing are complements or substitutes by showing that their interplay depends on other firm-specific characteristics. Moreover, identifying corporate reputation as a source of complementarity between both activities provides an additional explanation of how corporate reputation contributes to a more effective management of knowledge assets.     

Manufacturing flexibility and advanced human resource management practices

This article analyses the connection between the use of advanced human resource management (HRM) practices, individually and as a system, with manufacturing flexibility. The results show a positive relationship between the implementation of advanced HRM practices and manufacturing flexibility. While most of the advanced HRM practices analysed show higher levels of implementation in flexible firms, no differences are observed in training efforts. Flexible firms are more prone to implement systems of advanced HRM practices.     

Restructuring of the US Meat Processing Industry and New Hispanic Migrant Destinations

Findings from the 2000 US Census indicate high rates of Hispanic population increase beyond urban areas and traditional immigrant‐receiving states. The diversity of new destinations raises questions about forces attracting migrants to rural areas and links between economic structural change and Hispanic population growth. Our conceptual framework applies dual labor market theory to the meat processing industry, a sector whose growing Hispanic labor force offers an illustrative case study for analyzing how labor demand influences demographic change. We document the industry's consolidation, concentration, increased demand for low‐skilled labor, and changing labor force composition over three decades. We then position meat processing within a broader analysis that models nonmetropolitan county Hispanic population growth between 1980 and 2000 as a function of changes in industrial sector employment share and nonmetro county economic and demographic indicators. We find that growth in meat processing employment exhibits the largest positive coefficient increase in nonmetro Hispanic population growth over two decades and the largest impact of all sectors by 2000.     

Strategies for Multicultural Student Success: What About Grad School?

A workshop was presented to undergraduates as a collection of ethnic minority voices, which provided students an opportunity to participate in an ethnic minority focused event that encouraged mentoring relationships and created opportunities for the sharing of advice between ethnic minority undergraduate and graduate students. The workshop's goals and agenda and implications for counselors are described. The feedback from students was overwhelmingly positive. The authors believe that colleges and universities, and the ethnic minority students who attend them, would benefit greatly from the formal and structured implementation of a workshop series dedicated to encouraging graduate school as a postbaccalaureate option.     

Robust Bayesian bonus-malus premiums under the conditional specification model

The conditional specification technique introduced by Arnold et al. (Conditional specification of statistical models. Springer series in statistics. Springer, New York, 1999) was used in Sarabia et al. (Astin Bull 34(1):85–98, 2004) to obtain bonus-malus premiums. The Poisson distribution for which the parameter is a function of the classical structure parameter was used and a new class of prior distributions appeared in a natural way. This model contains, as a particular case, the classical compound Poisson model. In the present paper, the Bayesian robustness of this new model is examined and found to be much more robust than in the classical model in Gómez et al. (Insur Math Econ 31:105–113, 2002). For the present study, the moment conditions on the prior distribution are required. Examples, with real data, are given to illustrate our ideas under the net and exponential premium principles.     

Distance sampling as an effective method for monitoring feral pigeon (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Columba livia</Emphasis> f. <Emphasis Type="Italic">domestica</Emphasis>) urban populations

Current methods for estimating feral pigeon (Columba livia f. domestica) population size and for monitoring population trends are mainly based on indices, which according to the current literature on wildlife census methods often produce biased results. Distance Sampling techniques have never been used in this context, even though they could theoretically produce absolute abundance estimates at relatively low costs. The aim of this paper was to investigate the performance of Distance Sampling to census feral pigeons, and to compare these results with those obtained by using Quadrate Counts, a widespread method for monitoring these birds. Surveys were performed in Pisa (Italy) in two different periods of the year 2004 (end of January–beginning of February, and November), which correspond to minimum (January–February) and maximum (November) numbers for pigeon populations. We considered 40 line transects each about 250 m long for Distance Sampling, and 40 250 × 250 m cells for Quadrate Counts. In both cases, sampling units were randomized in a stratified design. In contrast to Quadrate Counts, Distance Sampling detected the predicted increase of abundance from January–February to November with an acceptable precision and no increase of costs per survey. Even though the possible biases (due to the not rigorously random distribution of transects and to the spiked nature of collected distance data) should be further investigated, results suggest that Distance Sampling is a viable and efficient alternative to the traditional methods used to estimate feral pigeons population size and to monitor trends.