Building Enrollments in Russian Culture Courses: Some Reflections and Suggestions

Ivan Turgenev’s activity as a translator was very extensive and spanned his entire career. It is, however, little known and less studied. Not only have most of his translations not been republished, but a comprehensive list, detailing his role and participation, has never been compiled. His translations into Russian (most of which have been republished) were done primarily out of personal interest in the author or the work in question, or out of close friendship (Maria Markovich, song texts for Pauline Viardot, Gustave Flaubert). His translations into other languages, mostly translations from Russian into French, were part of his efforts at making Russian literature, including his own works, better known outside of Russia. These translations were generally done in collaboration and provide insight into his views on translation, views which, within certain parameters, gave surprising leeway to the translator.     

Risk-Based Integrity and Inspection Modeling (RBIIM) of Process Components/System

Process plants deal with hazardous (highly flammable and toxic) chemicals at extreme conditions of temperature and pressure. Proper inspection and maintenance of these facilities is paramount for the maintenance of safe and continuous operation. This article proposes a risk-based methodology for integrity and inspection modeling (RBIIM) to ensure safe and fault-free operation of the facility. This methodology uses a gamma distribution to model the material degradation and a Bayesian updating method to improve the distribution based on actual inspection results. The method deals with the two cases of perfect and imperfect inspections. The measurement error resulting from imperfect inspections is modeled as a zero-mean, normally distributed random process. The risk is calculated using the probability of failure and the consequence is assessed in terms of cost as a function of time. The risk function is used to determine an optimal inspection and replacement interval. The calculated inspection and replacement interval is subsequently used in the design of an integrity inspection plan. Two case studies are presented: the maintenance of an autoclave and the maintenance of a pipeline segment. For the autoclave, the interval between two successive inspections is found to be 19 years. For the pipeline, the next inspection is due after 5 years from now. Measurements taken at inspections are used in estimating a new degradation rate that can then be used to update the failure distribution function.     

A remark on estimating the mean of a normal distribution with known coefficient of variation

Let X₁, X₂, …, X_n be iid N(μ, aμ²) (a>0) random variables with an unknown mean μ>0 and known coefficient of variation (CV) √a. The estimation of μ is revisited and it is shown that a modified version of an unbiased estimator of μ [cf. Khan RA. A note on estimating the mean of a normal distribution with known CV. J Am Stat Assoc. 1968;63:1039–1041] is more efficient. A certain linear minimum mean square estimator of Gleser and Healy [Estimating the mean of a normal distribution with known CV. J Am Stat Assoc. 1976;71:977–981] is also modified and improved. These improved estimators are being compared with the maximum likelihood estimator under squared-error loss function. Based on asymptotic consideration, a large sample confidence interval is also mentioned.     

Risk Management of Domino Effects Considering Dynamic Consequence Analysis

Domino effects are low‐probability high‐consequence accidents causing severe damage to humans, process plants, and the environment. Because domino effects affect large areas and are difficult to control, preventive safety measures have been given priority over mitigative measures. As a result, safety distances and safety inventories have been used as preventive safety measures to reduce the escalation probability of domino effects. However, these safety measures are usually designed considering static accident scenarios. In this study, we show that compared to a static worst‐case accident analysis, a dynamic consequence analysis provides a more rational approach for risk assessment and management of domino effects. This study also presents the application of Bayesian networks and conflict analysis to risk‐based allocation of chemical inventories to minimize the consequences and thus to reduce the escalation probability. It emphasizes the risk management of chemical inventories as an inherent safety measure, particularly in existing process plants where the applicability of other safety measures such as safety distances is limited.     

A New Sampling Design for Systematic Sampling

A sampling design called “Modified Systematic Sampling (MSS)” is proposed. In this design each unit has an equal probability of selection. Moreover, it works for both situations: N = nk or N ≠ nk. Consequently, the Linear Systematic Sampling (LSS) and Circular Systematic Sampling (CSS) become special cases of the proposed MSS design.     

Generalized Systematic Sampling

In this paper, we introduce a new systematic sampling design, called a Generalized Systematic Sampling (GSS), for estimation of finite population mean. The proposed design is found to be better than Simple Random Sampling (SRS) and the generalization of the several existing systematic sampling schemes such as, Linear Systematic Sampling (LSS), Diagonal Systematic Sampling (DSS), and Generalized Diagonal Systematic Sampling (GDSS). All of these designs become special cases of the proposed design.     

Fourth moment results for mrbp and related power performance

A permutation test for analysing randomized block data was proposed by Mielke and Iyer (1982). They obtained the first three exact moments of this test statistic and approximated its permutation distribution by the Pearson type III distribution. Tracy and Khan (1991) derived the fourth exact moment of this test statistic to obtain a better approximating distribution. Here we obtain the simplified form of the fourth moment result for some special cases of this test statistic. Empirical powers for four treatments are compared, using this additional information, with those based on the three moment results, after simulating data from some underlying populations.     

Saying Meritocracy and Doing Privilege

This article describes the relationship between saying and doing. It argues that focusing on the discrepancy between participants’ accounts and their actions is one of the greatest analytical strengths of ethnography. We make this case by drawing upon an ethnography of an elite boarding school. We also reflect on the way that two ethnographers worked together to better understand the social significance of accounts that are incongruent with situated behavior. We conclude by arguing that qualitative researchers must be more sensitive to the different kinds of claims that can be made with interview versus observational data.     

Subsea Release of Oil from a Riser: An Ecological Risk Assessment

This study illustrates a newly developed methodology, as a part of the U.S. EPA ecological risk assessment (ERA) framework, to predict exposure concentrations in a marine environment due to underwater release of oil and gas. It combines the hydrodynamics of underwater blowout, weathering algorithms, and multimedia fate and transport to measure the exposure concentration. Naphthalene and methane are used as surrogate compounds for oil and gas, respectively. Uncertainties are accounted for in multimedia input parameters in the analysis. The 95th percentile of the exposure concentration (EC_95%) is taken as the representative exposure concentration for the risk estimation. A bootstrapping method is utilized to characterize EC_95% and associated uncertainty. The toxicity data of 19 species available in the literature are used to calculate the 5th percentile of the predicted no observed effect concentration (PNEC_5%) by employing the bootstrapping method. The risk is characterized by transforming the risk quotient (RQ), which is the ratio of EC_95% to PNEC_5%, into a cumulative risk distribution. This article describes a probabilistic basis for the ERA, which is essential from risk management and decision‐making viewpoints. Two case studies of underwater oil and gas mixture release, and oil release with no gaseous mixture are used to show the systematic implementation of the methodology, elements of ERA, and the probabilistic method in assessing and characterizing the risk.     

Impacts of Demographics on Citizen's Access to Information: An Empirical Study of District Dera Ismail Khan, North Western Frontier Province, Pakistan

The impact of demographic dimensions on local government behavior is well identified, analyzed and documented at the global level. Likewise, several studies are available on developing countries, but empirical evidence on the conditions of Pakistan is lacking. This study is an effort to unearth empirical evidence on access to information in the local government system exemplifying data from the district Dera Ismail Khan (DIK), North Western Frontier Province (NWFP). Most global hypotheses for developing countries are accepted in this study but the statistics on local data are far more different in terms of the value and weight of variables, relationships and impacts on the research concepts. The most dominant concept in the impact of access to information on the local government system is "education for all." Mass education is a leading concept in making or breaking the role of people participation in the success or failure of local democracies. Data show that illiteracy is causing many problems, including the mass population's unawareness of their interests and duties at the public level, thereby giving the ruling elite a free hand in exploiting public resources for self-interest, at the cost of the public good.